There will definitely be a need for wireless carriers to continue to upgrade their networks for the increasing demand. Almost every business should be exploring how they can use mobile broadband solutions to increase productivity for teleworkers, sales people, road warriors etc.

TelcoiQ can assist your company in understanding your options for mobile solutions from all of the major wireless carriers including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile & Verizon.

“More than half of mobile-phone users surveyed recently by Zogby International said they would use a tablet device such as the iPad for working outside the office, according to mobile software maker Sybase (SY), which commissioned the survey of 2,443 adult cell-phone users.

Of respondents, 52.3% said they would most likely use a tablet for work, compared with 48.2% who said they’d use an iPad-like device for watching movies and TV, and 35.4% who said they’d play games on their tablet. The findings reflect “unexpected emphasis on the iPad’s suitability for work-related activities, and…the iPad’s potential value to information workers,” Dublin (Calif.)-based Sybase said in a Mar. 23 statement.”

As a small business owner and an iPhone user, I am curious to see how much traction the iPad will get among SMB’s. The iPhone with all its flaws is a pretty good email device and I do use a number of useful business applications including RSS Reader, Salesforce Mobile, Linkedin, Skype, and AT&T Uconnect (Web Conferencing) application. After using Android and Blackberry a bit I think Apple still has the premier platform for application development and the applications that are on multiple platforms generally appear to have their best designed offerings for the iPhone. With 4G mobile broadband already starting to be deployed by Sprint and Verizon, the bandwidth needed for robust business applications may be a reality. If the iPad opens up a flood gate of new application development with simple, easy to use businesses applications I think Apple may have a winner in the business community. With 4G already slowly making its wa

Do you see your business having any use for the iPad? If so what are some business applications that would be most useful for you?

Paetec

One of our carrier partners, Paetec announced Monday the general availability of its new managed network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) for customers of its MPLS services. Since IDPS resides within PAETEC’s MPLS network, there is no need for on-site equipment installation or upgrades and the product protects all sites on the network, not just one. This follows a major trend in MPLS Networks of carriers offering more services in the cloud. Network based Firewall, Hosted VoIP and Spam Filtering are other solutions that are available as optional services on a MPLS Network. Telco iQ can assist you with MPLS quotes from leading providers like Paetec, AT&T, Qwest, Verizon, Time Warner, and XO.

I could see this as a cost effective solution for SOHOs or mobile workers that are always on the go and need dependable Wi-Fi. It will be interesting to see how many people opt for the relatively high costs of an iPhone data plan plus the $59.95/month for the 4G service. It certainly makes sense for small businesses that may already use broadband data cards to replace them with the Sprint MiFi.

Here at Telco iQ we migrated from Exchange to Google Apps for email alomst 1 year ago. It is not perfect and I still use Outlook because of some of the plug-ins like Xobni and GotoMeeting, but I think it has a lot of promise. Like many SMB’s we realize the cost savings and efficiencies that can be gained with applications in the Cloud.

Applications like Salesforce.com & Google Apps allow us to focus on our core business and provide a great overall value.

Google Apps

Despite increasingly crowded wireless networks, unlimited voice and data plan pricing has been trending downward.  At present, every national carrier in the US offers its own flavor of “all you can eat” service, with Sprint touting the cheapest offering ($69.99/mo).

Recent comments from the top brass at Verizon and AT&T may indicate a predictable departure from this trend.  While per MB pricing has been a persistent reality for users that occasionally roam internationally, tiered data packages are likely to replace the one size fits all paradigm that’s emerged in the US market.

[Gizmodo]

Stephen Morris is freelance writer and guest contributor to Network Noise.

We live in an era of increasingly fragmented supply chains. What does that mean? Well, when you buy pretty well any electronic device from a sat nav to an iPhone or iPod touch you no longer tend to have a one-stop shop experience. Gone are the days when you paid over your hard-earned dollars and received a shrink-wrapped package containing all the goodies you need!

Instead, for many such devices nowadays, you may have to separately purchase an AC charger. It’s the same story when you want to download additional software for the devices, e.g., look at the hugely successful iPhone app market. Ditto for extra maps on sat nav devices.

This is all a different way of saying that the rich and complicated supply chain is fragmented – you receive value with such devices above and beyond your initial purchase. That value is augmented over time with the addition of new hardware and software. I guess it’s the vendors’ hope that this model will also extend the effective life of the device and help to form a more sticky relationship with the customer. One might say it’s the 21^st century version of vendor lock-in…

Network management (NM) software doesn’t really fit so well with the fragmented supply chain model. One reason for this is that NM software is typically a relatively small but key part of a massive investment in network hardware. So, NM software tends to adhere to the older one-stop shop model with occasional fork lift upgrades to apply changes. Worse still is the fact that most NM packages are vendor-specific with some better than others but no overall guide for developers. So, what about NM software upgrades?

The NM upgrade points become a critical moment of possible failure. Contrast this with the upgrade of an iPhone app where you are unobtrusively notified of an update and you click an app icon button to download it. Now, clearly we’re not comparing like with like! An iPhone app is microscopically tiny compared to an NM application. However, I think an interesting question suggests itself: Is there scope for a more fragmented approach in the NM software area? I think there is scope and it might come from embracing two things: more generic modelling and phased delivery.

MPLS VPNs and VLANs and generic modelling

If you look at a typical MPLS VPN and then look at a VLAN you won’t see too much crossover. For one thing, they operate at different network levels. However, taking a more abstract view the elements of VPNs and VLANs do exhibit certain similarities, e.g., both of them contain groups of nodes that are combined together to form an overall service. In addition, VPNs and VLANs are configured with rules specific to the required service and the constituent technologies.

By viewing the NM facilities (i.e., VPN, VLANs, nodes, rules, etc.) as more generic entities, it may be possible to model them in a more generic way. Object-oriented programming languages can help in this approach by allowing the definition of high-level base classes.

This sounds difficult but it really isn’t: you start with a node type to model any node. This can be used as part of a VPN or a VLA N. Then, you use a sub-class to add technology-specific attributes and capabilities. In addition to this, polymorphism in turn allows for a more elastic model when it comes to device-specific attributes and capabilities (see the references section for some articles on these points).

In other words, skilful use of the object-oriented approach should yield a hierarchical, polymorphic object model that can match the use and management of the real world devices and networks. In this context, arriving at a more generic model is down to the skill of the NM software designers and programmers.

What about the delivery of such software to the end user?

Phased Delivery

As NM developers, should we necessarily wait until a given feature is absolutely complete before deployment? I tend to think a more phased or agile approach might be useful, i.e., deliver a feature at the 80% completion mark and get some user feedback. Then, complete the feature with the benefit of the feedback.

This is a little more like the iPhone distribution model. Now, I’m not suggesting putting an 80% complete NM package up on a live network worth millions of dollars. I’m just suggesting that a customer might be interested in seeing features in a test scenario before they’re set in stone for release.

With this approach, the developers of the NM software can get valuable feedback from expert users. This can be used to create a more solid value proposition for the final software release.

Generic software and phased delivery: a fragmented supply chain?

So, the two concepts I’ve described are: generic object-oriented software and phased delivery. These aren’t new ideas – far from it. However, a substantially more generic approach would help to avoid duplication in NM code. Done right, it also facilitates software upgrades.

Phased delivery is likely to be more contentious – nobody likes customers to see their software defects. But, there is a higher purpose in this and if vendors and customers sign up to a more fragmented approach then I think this is a benefit for all.

Is there a silver bullet in this? Ideally, the developers of one NM package should be able to move from one vendor company to another and not have a huge learning curve. Likewise, end users should be able to chop and change their NM software toolkit. In other words, building and using NM software should be a whole lot easier than is currently the case.

In short, I think breaking up the NM software supply chain is important and necessary. This is particularly the case as we all rely more and more on different networks – effective management of these networks is no longer a choice, it’s a necessity.

References

These ideas are discussed at much greater length in my books and articles at:

http://www.informit.com/authors/bio.aspx?a=ff0e7b03-51ce-4983-9e3f-68485b1e8ceb

In particular, my NM book describes techniques that NM developers and designers can employ to better model networks. I’ve called one of these approaches: Linked overviews. This is useful tool for gathering together the essential attributes of a given technology prior to defining a management model.

End users could potentially also use this approach to communicate their needs to NM vendors.

The trend towards centralized infrastructure at Headquarters or Data Center locations has meant an increasing reliance on web apps and collaboration tools at the branch offices.  In an environment like this, network performance becomes increasingly critical and sensitive.

Its no secret that MPLS has become the dominant technology for wide area networks (WANs). And there are a number of ways to ensure that your companies MPLS network is functioning at it’s best.  Here are a few suggestions:

1. Make sure to size bandwidth appropriately. Circuit size should be determined on the basis of current and future usage.  Think seriously about bandwidth hungry applications that may be lurking in your network’s future.

2. When selecting a carrier, look for “growth friendly” bandwidth options like Ethernet and dynamic (burstable) services.

3. Work closely with your account team to determine the appropriate COS (Class of Service) designations for your various applications.

4. Consider using a data center or network based firewall to reduce the volume of traffic coming back to headquarters.

5. Consider WAN acceleration solutions such as those from Riverbed and Cisco to further improve performance.

How is your company dealing with WAN performance? Are you centralizing more of your infrastructure and IT? Any other good ideas on designing a high performing wide area network?