Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Written by Micki Kaufman
Thursday, 15 July 2010 02:10
Want to see something that will make you jealous? Get a pricing quote for colocation bandwidth.
Sickening, isn’t it? Or is it? Sure, the cost per Mbps at the colo center is much less than you are paying to bring in the same bandwidth to your server racks. Even if you can get a serious cost reduction on your line services by using a telecom broker like Telarus, you’ll still pay less when you co-locate. Is that fair?
Sure it is. The cost reduction you find at colocation facilities comes from a couple of sources. First, there are likely to be a lot more carriers serving that facility than your building. They flock there because they know that they’ll find lots of bandwidth hungry customers all in one spot. These carriers can hear the cash registers going ka-ching! all the while they are bringing in their fiber optic lines. Of course, that ka-ching! sound is ringing in every carrier’s ear. Pretty soon they are battling to get the most customers with the highest bandwidth requirements. That drives prices down and encourages even more customers to move into the “carrier hotel,” as colos are often called.
Beyond fierce competition from multiple service providers, bandwidth costs are low because connection costs are trivial. You know the last mile connection? Yes, the line from your facility to the carrier’s closest point of presence? If you are using copper or SONET fiber, chances are that the last mile is being leased from the incumbent local telephone company. They put the cables in the ground and they expect to get paid for their use, especially if they are being used by a competitive carrier. Inside the colocation center there is no last mile. You have a hard time running a mile of cable even if you wrapped it around the building a few dozen times. That last mile is reduced to the last 100 feet, and it is often installed by colo center personnel. They simply run a drop, fiber or copper, from the carrier “meet me room” to your rack. Plug it in and you are connected.
Lots of competition and easy connections are the reasons behind those mouth watering colocation bandwidth prices. The question becomes, “how can you get in on the action?”
The obvious answer is to move to the colo facility. But what about the costs of space and utilities? They’re probably lower than what you pay now, especially if you are renting. Economy of scale keeps the cost of electricity, HVAC, security, fire suppression, and backup power at reasonable rates. You can even outsource the installation and maintenance of your equipment to the colocation center technical staff. They’re always on duty anyway. Is your staff?
Before you brush off the idea of packing up and moving your high bandwidth server equipment to a colo center, run the numbers. Compare costs of facilities and bandwidth and see which makes more sense. It can be a real eye-opener... and cost saver.
Sickening, isn’t it? Or is it? Sure, the cost per Mbps at the colo center is much less than you are paying to bring in the same bandwidth to your server racks. Even if you can get a serious cost reduction on your line services by using a telecom broker like Telarus, you’ll still pay less when you co-locate. Is that fair?Sure it is. The cost reduction you find at colocation facilities comes from a couple of sources. First, there are likely to be a lot more carriers serving that facility than your building. They flock there because they know that they’ll find lots of bandwidth hungry customers all in one spot. These carriers can hear the cash registers going ka-ching! all the while they are bringing in their fiber optic lines. Of course, that ka-ching! sound is ringing in every carrier’s ear. Pretty soon they are battling to get the most customers with the highest bandwidth requirements. That drives prices down and encourages even more customers to move into the “carrier hotel,” as colos are often called.
Beyond fierce competition from multiple service providers, bandwidth costs are low because connection costs are trivial. You know the last mile connection? Yes, the line from your facility to the carrier’s closest point of presence? If you are using copper or SONET fiber, chances are that the last mile is being leased from the incumbent local telephone company. They put the cables in the ground and they expect to get paid for their use, especially if they are being used by a competitive carrier. Inside the colocation center there is no last mile. You have a hard time running a mile of cable even if you wrapped it around the building a few dozen times. That last mile is reduced to the last 100 feet, and it is often installed by colo center personnel. They simply run a drop, fiber or copper, from the carrier “meet me room” to your rack. Plug it in and you are connected.
Lots of competition and easy connections are the reasons behind those mouth watering colocation bandwidth prices. The question becomes, “how can you get in on the action?”
The obvious answer is to move to the colo facility. But what about the costs of space and utilities? They’re probably lower than what you pay now, especially if you are renting. Economy of scale keeps the cost of electricity, HVAC, security, fire suppression, and backup power at reasonable rates. You can even outsource the installation and maintenance of your equipment to the colocation center technical staff. They’re always on duty anyway. Is your staff?
Before you brush off the idea of packing up and moving your high bandwidth server equipment to a colo center, run the numbers. Compare costs of facilities and bandwidth and see which makes more sense. It can be a real eye-opener... and cost saver.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Written by Micki Kaufman
Wednesday, 14 July 2010 02:10
If your old PBX system is getting long in the tooth and it’s time to start considering a replacement, you’ll do well to look into replacing that PBX with an IP PBX and those phone lines with a SIP Trunk.
Why are these new technologies catching on so fast when traditional telecom equipment and analog or ISDN phone lines work just fine? The answer is new features combined with cost savings while maintaining call quality.
You might be getting a headache right now, thinking about the capital investment and installation expense required to change out all those phone sets that are still getting the job done. Breathe easy. You don’t have to swap out any of your old phones unless you want to.
There are good reasons why you might like a new VoIP SIP phone. For one thing, they plug right into your computer network and don’t need separate telephone wiring of their own. You manage them like any other device on the network. Since a SIP phone can plug into any network jack just like a PC, it’s much easier to manage moves, adds and changes. You want to move to a different office? No problem. Just take your phone with you and plug it in to the network jack in the new office. The phone still has its own MAC address that identifies it as yours, so it doesn’t matter where on the network it sits.
But what about the old phones you want to keep? Just connect their phone wires to your new IP PBX. You’ll need to order interface cards with FSX ports to make the connections, but the IP PBX doesn’t mind a bit. You can even have a mix of SIP phones connected to your LAN and analog phones connected to FSX ports. The IP PBX will treat them all as individual telephones. Of course, the SIP phones may have extra features like displays or the ability to coordinate with computer terminals, but they’re still telephones.
By the way, you don’t necessarily need to have a PBX system on your premises anymore. VoIP has opened the door to hosted PBX, where the call switching hardware is located at an offsite supplier who provides telephone services at an attractive price. It’s a way to avoid the often hefty capital investment required for a new in-house IP PBX system.
VoIP telephony has become popular in business environments with lots of phones, primarily because of the ability to converge the LAN network to support voice as well as data. That makes it possible to keep the phone system truly off the public network for all locations that are reached by the corporate LAN. It’s only when you need to talk to outside parties that you need public phone lines. Or do you?
Yes, you do. But you don’t have to provide those lines yourself. What a SIP trunk does is extend your internal network to a service provider who then connects to the public phone system. Economy of scale generally means that telephone calls over a SIP trunking service are less expensive that terminating them yourself to analog phone lines or ISDN PRI trunks connected to the phone company. SIP trunking services also generally provide dedicated Internet service over the same SIP trunk. After all, it is just a network extension. As long as quality of service is maintained, you can get your telephone and Internet services from the same provider over a single SIP trunk and realize a cost savings.
Are you interested in exploring the expanded performance and cost savings available with VoIP and SIP Trunking services? You may be surprised at what you can get for much less than you are paying now. Enter a quick Enterprise VoIP quote request now with a brief description of your needs and you’ll get a fast response and personalized service.
Why are these new technologies catching on so fast when traditional telecom equipment and analog or ISDN phone lines work just fine? The answer is new features combined with cost savings while maintaining call quality. You might be getting a headache right now, thinking about the capital investment and installation expense required to change out all those phone sets that are still getting the job done. Breathe easy. You don’t have to swap out any of your old phones unless you want to.
There are good reasons why you might like a new VoIP SIP phone. For one thing, they plug right into your computer network and don’t need separate telephone wiring of their own. You manage them like any other device on the network. Since a SIP phone can plug into any network jack just like a PC, it’s much easier to manage moves, adds and changes. You want to move to a different office? No problem. Just take your phone with you and plug it in to the network jack in the new office. The phone still has its own MAC address that identifies it as yours, so it doesn’t matter where on the network it sits.
But what about the old phones you want to keep? Just connect their phone wires to your new IP PBX. You’ll need to order interface cards with FSX ports to make the connections, but the IP PBX doesn’t mind a bit. You can even have a mix of SIP phones connected to your LAN and analog phones connected to FSX ports. The IP PBX will treat them all as individual telephones. Of course, the SIP phones may have extra features like displays or the ability to coordinate with computer terminals, but they’re still telephones.
By the way, you don’t necessarily need to have a PBX system on your premises anymore. VoIP has opened the door to hosted PBX, where the call switching hardware is located at an offsite supplier who provides telephone services at an attractive price. It’s a way to avoid the often hefty capital investment required for a new in-house IP PBX system.
VoIP telephony has become popular in business environments with lots of phones, primarily because of the ability to converge the LAN network to support voice as well as data. That makes it possible to keep the phone system truly off the public network for all locations that are reached by the corporate LAN. It’s only when you need to talk to outside parties that you need public phone lines. Or do you?
Yes, you do. But you don’t have to provide those lines yourself. What a SIP trunk does is extend your internal network to a service provider who then connects to the public phone system. Economy of scale generally means that telephone calls over a SIP trunking service are less expensive that terminating them yourself to analog phone lines or ISDN PRI trunks connected to the phone company. SIP trunking services also generally provide dedicated Internet service over the same SIP trunk. After all, it is just a network extension. As long as quality of service is maintained, you can get your telephone and Internet services from the same provider over a single SIP trunk and realize a cost savings.
Are you interested in exploring the expanded performance and cost savings available with VoIP and SIP Trunking services? You may be surprised at what you can get for much less than you are paying now. Enter a quick Enterprise VoIP quote request now with a brief description of your needs and you’ll get a fast response and personalized service.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Written by Micki Kaufman
Tuesday, 13 July 2010 17:57
Both legacy telco and competitive fiber optic networks worldwide are in the midst of a major upgrade from switched circuit to packet switched networks. With IP core networks proliferating, it seems natural that Ethernet WAN services have become more available and lower in cost. But, what is it you are using to connect to Ethernet transport services and private IP-based cloud networks? It’s not T1, DS3 or SONET telco-based connections, is it?
In many cases, that’s exactly what businesses are using. There’s nothing wrong with any of these switched-circuit time division multiplexing technologies. They’re highly reliable and much less costly than they were even a few years ago. But, you should know that there are advantages to using Ethernet itself in the first mile.
The first mile, also called the last mile, connection is often the most costly and hardest to come by. This is the physical wire, optical fiber, or wireless circuit that connects your building to your service provider’s closest point of presence. T1 lines have been highly popular because they need only two pair of ordinary twisted copper phone line to bring in the service. Even small business locations have a couple extra pair of copper in the bundle that connects them to the telco central office.
Did you know that Ethernet is also available using the same twisted pair copper that supplies your T1 service? A big reason to switch to Ethernet is that higher bandwidth may be available to you over copper. Common speeds are 3 Mbps and 10 Mbps Ethernet. Higher speeds of 20 Mbps up to 50 Mbps may also be available, depending on how close you are to the carrier POP (point of presence). The lower speeds up to 10 Mbps are readily available, but above 10 Mbps you need to be within a mile or so of the POP. Higher speeds degrade rapidly as distance increases.
The next step up is fiber optic Ethernet. EoF or Ethernet over Fiber offers speeds from 10 Mbps right on up to 10 Gbps. That’s a huge range and it’s scalable. You simply make sure that you install a port that is capable of handling the highest speed you anticipate needing. Then, you order service over that port that is only what you need right now. Say you have a 100 Mbps port installed. You might start out with 20 or 40 Mbps and then upgrade when business needs justify the increase. Since the port is capable of 100 Mbps, you can often get up to this level of bandwidth by simply placing a phone call to your service provider.
In addition to bandwidth, Ethernet offers simplified interfaces that are similar to what you are using on your LAN already. Most often this is a common RJ-45 jack provided by the carrier. Just plug in and go. But best of all, Ethernet tends to be the most cost effective competitive bandwidth service you can buy. You can choose to get more bandwidth for the money you are spending now or run at the same bandwidth and get a cost savings.
Sound good? Why not investigate First Mile Ethernet Services for your business? There are multiple carriers that would like to bid on your connection and you’ll get those bids fast.
In many cases, that’s exactly what businesses are using. There’s nothing wrong with any of these switched-circuit time division multiplexing technologies. They’re highly reliable and much less costly than they were even a few years ago. But, you should know that there are advantages to using Ethernet itself in the first mile. The first mile, also called the last mile, connection is often the most costly and hardest to come by. This is the physical wire, optical fiber, or wireless circuit that connects your building to your service provider’s closest point of presence. T1 lines have been highly popular because they need only two pair of ordinary twisted copper phone line to bring in the service. Even small business locations have a couple extra pair of copper in the bundle that connects them to the telco central office.
Did you know that Ethernet is also available using the same twisted pair copper that supplies your T1 service? A big reason to switch to Ethernet is that higher bandwidth may be available to you over copper. Common speeds are 3 Mbps and 10 Mbps Ethernet. Higher speeds of 20 Mbps up to 50 Mbps may also be available, depending on how close you are to the carrier POP (point of presence). The lower speeds up to 10 Mbps are readily available, but above 10 Mbps you need to be within a mile or so of the POP. Higher speeds degrade rapidly as distance increases.
The next step up is fiber optic Ethernet. EoF or Ethernet over Fiber offers speeds from 10 Mbps right on up to 10 Gbps. That’s a huge range and it’s scalable. You simply make sure that you install a port that is capable of handling the highest speed you anticipate needing. Then, you order service over that port that is only what you need right now. Say you have a 100 Mbps port installed. You might start out with 20 or 40 Mbps and then upgrade when business needs justify the increase. Since the port is capable of 100 Mbps, you can often get up to this level of bandwidth by simply placing a phone call to your service provider.
In addition to bandwidth, Ethernet offers simplified interfaces that are similar to what you are using on your LAN already. Most often this is a common RJ-45 jack provided by the carrier. Just plug in and go. But best of all, Ethernet tends to be the most cost effective competitive bandwidth service you can buy. You can choose to get more bandwidth for the money you are spending now or run at the same bandwidth and get a cost savings.
Sound good? Why not investigate First Mile Ethernet Services for your business? There are multiple carriers that would like to bid on your connection and you’ll get those bids fast.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Written by Micki Kaufman
Tuesday, 13 July 2010 17:57
If you’ve been frustrated by the lack of low cost broadband at your home or business, help is on the way. In fact it may have already arrived.
CLEAR, the innovator of 4G Wireless broadband using the WiMAX standard, is now available in more cities. These include:
Washington DC Metro
Grand Rapids, Michigan
St. Louis, Missouri
Rochester, New York
Syracuse, New York
Eugene, Oregon
Merced, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah
Richmond, Virginia
Tri-Cities, Washington
Visalia, Washington
Yakima, Washington
What’s all the excitement about 4G? It’s not only the next step up from 3G wireless, but a service that actually takes the place of wireline broadband in many cases. You get high bandwidths of 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps download with occasional bursts up to 10 Mbps. Unlike WiFi, WiMAX 4G has the power to cover an entire city and even provide desktop computing bandwidth. You get what looks like a DSL or Cable modem, except there is no broadband wire to connect. The signal comes through the air.
Also unlike DSL or Cable, you can have an extra modem that plugs into your laptop computer for broadband on the go. Forget trying to find hotspots when you need them. Just wake up your computer and you’ve got broadband Internet wherever you are. That’s the beauty of wireless. Best of all, you can have both fixed and mobile service on the same account if you want to.
This has got to cost, right? Would you be surprised to know that prices start at $30 a month for unlimited broadband? Perhaps even surprised and delighted?
I thought so. Well, don’t wait a minute longer. Check and see if you can get 4G wireless at your home or business location, or both. If you can, you’ve got an unbeatable combination of fixed and mobile service for a lot less than your other options... if you can even find them at all.
CLEAR, the innovator of 4G Wireless broadband using the WiMAX standard, is now available in more cities. These include:
Washington DC Metro
Grand Rapids, Michigan
St. Louis, Missouri
Rochester, New York
Syracuse, New York
Eugene, Oregon
Merced, Oregon
Salt Lake City, Utah
Richmond, Virginia
Tri-Cities, Washington
Visalia, Washington
Yakima, Washington
What’s all the excitement about 4G? It’s not only the next step up from 3G wireless, but a service that actually takes the place of wireline broadband in many cases. You get high bandwidths of 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps download with occasional bursts up to 10 Mbps. Unlike WiFi, WiMAX 4G has the power to cover an entire city and even provide desktop computing bandwidth. You get what looks like a DSL or Cable modem, except there is no broadband wire to connect. The signal comes through the air.
Also unlike DSL or Cable, you can have an extra modem that plugs into your laptop computer for broadband on the go. Forget trying to find hotspots when you need them. Just wake up your computer and you’ve got broadband Internet wherever you are. That’s the beauty of wireless. Best of all, you can have both fixed and mobile service on the same account if you want to.
This has got to cost, right? Would you be surprised to know that prices start at $30 a month for unlimited broadband? Perhaps even surprised and delighted?
I thought so. Well, don’t wait a minute longer. Check and see if you can get 4G wireless at your home or business location, or both. If you can, you’ve got an unbeatable combination of fixed and mobile service for a lot less than your other options... if you can even find them at all.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00
Written by Micki Kaufman
Tuesday, 13 July 2010 17:57
So, how many video games and gaming systems do you have? Not just the two or three that you are using now. How many different systems and how many games for each system are there hidden in the nooks and crannies of your house or apartment? Too many to count? I thought so.
Now, how would you like to quickly and easily convert some of those games and game consoles that you aren’t using anymore to cash? Yes, cold, hard cash. Well, actually it’s a check and it’s neither cold nor hard. But it is money. It’s money that you can use to buy anything you want, including the latest in video games and gaming systems.
Did I happen to mention that this is quick and easy? One of the reasons that we all have a bunch of systems and dozens upon dozens of games scattered here and there is that unloading them can be a lot of trouble. Unless you have a local store that buys this stuff, you are faced with the onerous chore of running classified ads and dealing with whoever shows up at the door and whenever they decide to show up. Or, you can take pictures and run auctions, hoping for the best. Oh, it didn’t sell? That’s depressing.
Forget all that grief. Sell your used video games and game systems to an online recycler and be done with it in minutes, not hours or days. The process is about as easy as you can get and it’s even fun. Think of it as a treasure hunt. You’re on the hunt to see what you can get for stuff that’s just taking up space right now. All you need to do is run a quick search for the game or game platform that you own. You can also just browse through the selections if you have the time and enjoy the trip down memory lane.
Once you’ve found your game, just answer a couple of quick questions about the condition of the game disc or cartridge and what accessories you have. Then click the “Calculate” button and find out how much you’ll get paid for what you have. Each one takes a matter of a few second. If you like the offer, you can add it to your “box” which is like a shopping cart in reverse. All done? Go ahead and request a free pre-paid mailer. When it comes, pack your items in it and send it on its way. Once the condition of your submission have been verified, you’ll get a check in the mail. It could be enough to buy a new game. It might be enough to buy a whole new system. It all depends on what you have and what condition it is in. The newer and cleaner, the better.
What type of games and gaming systems can you sell? If you have anything for Atari, Microsoft Xbox or Xbox 360, Nintendo GameBoy or GameBoy Advance, Gamecube, DS, DS Lite, Wii, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2 or 3 or PSP, you may be in luck. This is not a comprehensive list, so even if you have something else, it is worth your while to take a few seconds and see if you can get paid.
By the way, electronics recycling is not limited to video games and consoles. The most popular item to recycle is cell phones. There are hundreds of millions of them out there and many could be easily converted to cash. Also, digital cameras, desktop and laptop computers, LCD monitors, projectors, streaming media devices, home audio Blu-Ray players, satellite radios, camcorders, camera lenses, MP3 players, external drives, PDAs and even movies. Round up all your electronic stuff and check its value. You may be sitting on a small fortune and not even know it.
Now, how would you like to quickly and easily convert some of those games and game consoles that you aren’t using anymore to cash? Yes, cold, hard cash. Well, actually it’s a check and it’s neither cold nor hard. But it is money. It’s money that you can use to buy anything you want, including the latest in video games and gaming systems. Did I happen to mention that this is quick and easy? One of the reasons that we all have a bunch of systems and dozens upon dozens of games scattered here and there is that unloading them can be a lot of trouble. Unless you have a local store that buys this stuff, you are faced with the onerous chore of running classified ads and dealing with whoever shows up at the door and whenever they decide to show up. Or, you can take pictures and run auctions, hoping for the best. Oh, it didn’t sell? That’s depressing.
Forget all that grief. Sell your used video games and game systems to an online recycler and be done with it in minutes, not hours or days. The process is about as easy as you can get and it’s even fun. Think of it as a treasure hunt. You’re on the hunt to see what you can get for stuff that’s just taking up space right now. All you need to do is run a quick search for the game or game platform that you own. You can also just browse through the selections if you have the time and enjoy the trip down memory lane.
Once you’ve found your game, just answer a couple of quick questions about the condition of the game disc or cartridge and what accessories you have. Then click the “Calculate” button and find out how much you’ll get paid for what you have. Each one takes a matter of a few second. If you like the offer, you can add it to your “box” which is like a shopping cart in reverse. All done? Go ahead and request a free pre-paid mailer. When it comes, pack your items in it and send it on its way. Once the condition of your submission have been verified, you’ll get a check in the mail. It could be enough to buy a new game. It might be enough to buy a whole new system. It all depends on what you have and what condition it is in. The newer and cleaner, the better.
What type of games and gaming systems can you sell? If you have anything for Atari, Microsoft Xbox or Xbox 360, Nintendo GameBoy or GameBoy Advance, Gamecube, DS, DS Lite, Wii, Sega Dreamcast, Sony Playstation 2 or 3 or PSP, you may be in luck. This is not a comprehensive list, so even if you have something else, it is worth your while to take a few seconds and see if you can get paid.
By the way, electronics recycling is not limited to video games and consoles. The most popular item to recycle is cell phones. There are hundreds of millions of them out there and many could be easily converted to cash. Also, digital cameras, desktop and laptop computers, LCD monitors, projectors, streaming media devices, home audio Blu-Ray players, satellite radios, camcorders, camera lenses, MP3 players, external drives, PDAs and even movies. Round up all your electronic stuff and check its value. You may be sitting on a small fortune and not even know it.
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