@SmallBizCIO

@SmallBizCIO: A blog aimed at the SMB, written by a long time IT enthusiast turned IT professional. "Jack of all trades, master of none, Certainly better than a master of one" These are my personal opinions.

[smallbizcio]

Vonage and the Netopia 3000

Yesterday, I was helping a friend solve some quality issues with his Vonage VoIP line. In essence, he had bandwidth issues: As soon as he checked his email or opened a web page, his voice conversation would start dropping. I could not do too much about that, because he rents some office space from a local business owner where he shares the owners bandwidth with 3-4 other people.

Unable to change the router (no $$$ and no ownership), I decided to see what the Netopia 3347 could do. QoS? Traffic Shaper? no, something called Differentiated Services (DiffServ).

It can be found under the 'expert mode', Advanced -> Differentiated Services

Not knowing the IP's of Vonage, I started playing with the local IP of the Vonage box.  I ended up with the following:

Set the Vonage box to a static IP address (not covered here)

under the DiffServ settings, click 'enable' and leave the Low-High Priority ratio to the default 92. Create 2 'Custom Flows' by clicking the ADD button to create each flow:

Add a UDP flow, BOTH directions, start port 5061, end port 5062, Cient IP: <the ip of your Vonage box>, Client subnet: <the subnet of your Vonage box>. Select either QOS setting that is not 'OFF'.

Add a UDP flow, BOTH directions, start port 10000, end port 20000, Cient IP: <the ip of your Vonage box>, Client subnet: <the subnet of your Vonage box>.  Select either QOS setting that is not 'OFF'.

Restart your router - Don't forget to select SAVE AND RESTART.

This was enough to be able to watch a high-def Youtube vid without significant quality loss on the phone... 

I cannot imagine that I am the first person that wants to do this. However, in searching for Vonage / Netopia / QOS, no clear instructions showed up. If it help you, out there, here you go!

For more information on what Traffic Shaping and QoS is and how to configure it on routers that support more complete functionality, see http://mollien.net/index.php?main=articles&article_id=24

[smallbizcio]

Sizing up Connected Real Estate

Sizing up Connected Real Estate – Does size really matter?

Today, I’d like to explore how to size the connectivity aspect when exploring the decision to offer (or just use) Connected Real Estate for a Real Estate Project.

Defining the needs of the target market

While all of the above focus on the tenant base, there is a very large benefit to the long term operating cost as well: Being able to gather real-time data points and use that data to tune environmental controls and tenant services levels the most optimal levels will lower operational cost and, as an additional benefit, positively impact tenant satisfaction and therefore, retention rates.

Taking a look at the future

Once a clear picture is established on who the target market is, it is time to take a look at future expectations. Within the markets that were defined, how would their requirements change over the next 5, 10, and 20 years? Video is increasing in popularity and if you found that Video Conferencing is important for prospects, it is easy to look at the changes in our expectation of TV and see where video conferencing is going. Multiple people at the same time, from multiple locations, will be talking to each other in real time and in high definition. This requires not only ‘broadband’ capabilities (lots of bandwidth), it also requires high quality bandwidth.

When telecommunications or Cloud Services are important, it might be important have redundancy in place to assure business continuity when one of the connections goes down.

It may not be necessary to take drastic steps in the beginning, and understanding where the future might be going will offer a greater chance to be current and stay that way for years to come. A partner in the technology field, with experience and understanding of the real estate market, will be able to help with the future vision as well as the next step:

Sizing up the environment

After looking at the target market and the foreseeable future, it is time to size up the environment itself. The nice part is that for the most part, the prediction can be based on existing data, found at the municipal archives (information regarding zoning and details about companies in the area) and on specialist sites on the Internet.  A technology partner can help you provide this data and give a genuine insight in the immediate needs and those that can be addressed later. This way, preparations can be made to provide additional cabling, providers or even redundancy throughout the site, without having to incur the full cost of implementation, management and maintenance from the get-go.

So, does size matter?

Do you have to be a skyscraper or a shopping mall to do anything with Connected Real Estate? There is only one simple answer, and that answer is ‘no’. Asking yourself if you are too big or too small is –in my opinion- irrelevant when considering Connected Real Estate, simply because of the permeation of Internet utilization throughout businesses today. Every business, big and small, uses connectivity every day for communications, operations, entertainment and control. Connected Real Estate is the logical next step for all businesses in the value chain – from the architects to the tenants – and size is irrelevant.

If you would like more information on what Connected Real Estate can do for your project, new or existing, and locate a partner that will be able to assist in the assessment, implementation and maintenance of your connected efforts, I can be contacted through the information below.

[checkvist]

It really takes time to make a noticable change.

Despite all excitement of working on the next big thing (more on this in a separate blog post), the ongoing maintenance and bugfixes should also take place.

Type ‘reset’ to reopen all tasks in the list

Some people have the same set of tasks to...

[smallbizcio]

The person who knows ‘how’ will always have a job. The person who knows ‘why’ will always be his boss.

Diane Ravitch

[smallbizcio]

This is a guest post I did for the Construction Connection newsletter and Blog.

[smallbizcio]

Cas Mollien in front of 600 Brickell, by Jeffery Newbury.

[smallbizcio]

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, conn a ship, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve an equation, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

Robert A. Heinlein

[smallbizcio]

Generalist or Specialist: What does your SMB need most?

One of the things that I have always seen as a strong point, is being a Jack of all Trades. It has always surprised me how society in the US is determined to pigeonhole who you are and what you do - If I talk about my experience or drop my resume at an employers desk, there is often confusion about where I fit in.

Today, I ran into this great article that underlines my personal beliefs, and states the reasons more clearly than I ever could:

Generalists recognize that the 80/20 principle applies to skills: 20% of a language’s vocabulary will enable you to communicate and understand at least 80%, 20% of a dance like tango (lead and footwork) separates the novice from the pro, 20% of the moves in a sport account for 80% of the scoring, etc.

And:

The specialist who imprisons himself in self-inflicted one-dimensionality — pursuing an impossible perfection — spends decades stagnant or making imperceptible incremental improvements while the curious generalist consistently measures improvement in quantum leaps. It is only the latter who enjoys the process of pursuing excellence.

The SMB is in dire need of generalists. Only the generalists understand the implications of a decision on other, often seemingly unrelated factors. The generalist also has the best view on scale and cost of technological solutions; Sometimes an Exchange server just isn't the right choice for the SMB.

I love the knowledge of understanding different technologies that do similar things, allowing the SMB access to the same tools and toys as the big boys, but at a fraction of the cost.

So YES, I AM A GENERALIST - AND I AM PROUD OF IT!

Check out the post itself and read why the small business needs generalists.

[smallbizcio]

This is a brilliant piece by Ericsson on what smart cities do for everyday people. It explores some of the possibilities and in its simplicity, create a window where the regular person can catch a glimpse of life in tomorrows city..

It is 17 minutes long and worth watching.

[smallbizcio]

Hands-On Pics of the Cisco Cius "phone"

I was in the fortunate situation earlier this week, to play around with the Cisco Cuis. Unfortunately, the device was not fully connected yet but it is a very interesting development. 

The Cisco Cius is an "IP-based communications end-point". Blah. What this essentially means is that Cisco sees the device as a phone first, and everything else later. 

As you can see, the Cius is a phone - and for some reason, I just don't find it as sleek and sexy as some of the other high-end phones that Cisco has produced. Looking beyond this first impression, it is clear that the huge touch-screen is meant for video calls as well as regular calls. Some of you might recognize the status bar at the top and you are correct: This is an Android device. As it is now, it is a full Android version, albeit an older one (v2.2.2):

So, where is Cisco going with this and why is this cool? Well, the screen completely pops off and becomes a small tablet, or a large phone, depending on how you look at it.

This is where the confusion starts: Without its dock, it is very easy to assume that this is a tablet or a phone, especially with the Android OS running on it. Keep in mind though, that Cisco sees this as a communications device that is flexible enough to do more.

The parts and the whole

Looking at the parts individually, is is clear that connectivity is key. Looking at the dock itself, we find 2 USB ports, 2 network ports (one of which is used as a switched port), a display port and a power connection. The device is usually powered over Ethernet, but a separate power supply is an option.

On the left side (not pictured), 2 jacks are found for speakers and microphone, just like on a PC. The phone handset is smaller and lighter than the ones we're used to with the 7900 series and some of the re-vamped Linksys ones. 

To me, it felt just a little more cheap and flimsy, which is a shame on a device of this price (close to $1000 for this model). On the other hand, I was told that this is the 'slim' model and that a regular model is (or will be) available as well (I cannot testify to the truth of this statement).

Moving on to the device itself, the first thing I noticed is the weight and size. With a 7 inch screen, it is definitely not the size of an iPad or Galaxy Tab 10.1, yet it feels thicker and heavier. 

What immediately catches the eye, are the large speakers on the bottom of the device. This design will be something that turns many tablet-fans off, but for a communications device, it makes sense. In despite of its weight, or maybe because of it, it feels sturdy and solid, made for a business environment. When I am playing with my Galaxy Tab 10.1, I am afraid to break it in half when I hold it wrong. With the Cuis, I had no such feeling. 

On top, we find the power switch, a USB port and an SD card slot for memory expansion. 

On the bottom, we find the connectors for the doc. Volume buttons and a mute button are placed on the side.

Putting it all together..

The Cius has both a front-facing and a rear-facing camera that are claimed to rival some of the mobile TelePresense solutions. The phone can interact with TelePresense rooms, supports Jabber (which is now owned by Cisco) and -obviously - seamlessly integrates with Cisco's Call Manager.

The Cius seamlessly switches voice and video conversations (under certain conditions) from wired, to wireless, to cellular without interrupting the call. 

This is truly a converged device. My phone is the Motorola Atrix, because of the converged nature and the way it uses all of the different docking stations. The Cisco Cius is the next phase - Larger and made for the professional market.

It has enough horsepower to run most applications that are needed for daily computer work and with the addition of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - think 'remote desktop in the cloud', but better) and the phone-dock, this has a possibility of becoming the only device you need. 

Phone calls, video calls, mobility. Plug the device in the dock an you have access to a full computing environment. The display-port adapter becomes the computer screen and a USB (or bluetooth) keyboard and mouse will finalize the setup. Connect to your Virtual Desktop, wherever you are, and go.

The bad and the ugly

The size and weight are something that will hopefully will change. The 7'' market is a hard one because the devices are too large to nicely fit in a pocket, like a phone would, and do not offer the user experience that a full-sized tablet does. The thickness, weight and (less than sleek) design will make it hard to find social acceptance for it.

Then there is the connection to Call Manager, Cisco's own 'PBX'. It is a highly expensive system that is out of reach for many small businesses. However, with many other standards-based phone systems available, Cisco remains a top choice for SIP endpoints. I hope that the Cius will be able to be connected to a standard SIP server so the benefits of the device will become a reality for smaller companies as well.

Since mobility is key with the Cius, it is a requirement that more docking stations become available to provide additional improvements in the user experience. A standardized car dock, laptop dock and presentation dock could make this device a staple in the business world.

Conclusion

With the number of buttons, their placement, the size of the speakers and the connectivity options, it is clear that the Ciusis is not targeted to be your average multimedia device. It's strengths should not be found in entertainment, but in business value - mobile communications and accessibility where ever you go.

I think the confusion over the device could have been less if the interface would not have been so blatantly in-your-face Android, and Cisco would have developed their own interface on top of it to give it more of a business look. On the other hand, I am thrilled that Cisco did NOT re-invent the wheel and came to market with one of the first truly converged devices that is ready for the big time. 

Cisco is giving us a choice and to me, it is a good one.

[smallbizcio]

The hidden costs of PCs and how to reduce them.

Have you ever considered the cost of computers being left on? It is a subject that rarely gets touched but the figures are just staggering. In a world that is becoming more and more aware of green efforts, the calculations are often made on a large scale - referring to environmental impact.

But let's bring it a bit closer to home and apply this to the cost of running your business.

My attention got pulled today to the following video by Nigel Upchurch:

"A 'Value PC' with 17" LCD monitor, left on all year uses 304.2 kWh more than the same computer turned on for 45 hours a week"

OK, now lets day you pay 15 cents per kWh. The statement above shows an additional cost of $45.63 per year, per computer. If you have 10 computers, do the math. It may not seems like much, but it is money that is thrown away.

There are also the variables of the type of PC, the size of the monitor and even the type of monitor - It's really time to get rid of those old CRT's, they use more then 3 times the power of a modern LCD...

Sleep mode

Enabling sleep mode or standby when computers they are idle is one solution. The energy usage of a computer in sleep mode is usually around 4W. The average value PC uses just under 100W when in use, so the difference is very noteworthy. Unfortunately, computers tend to wake up from sleep mode when certain tasks need to be done and there is no (built-in) way to enable stand-by on after hours. (If you read this and you know of a way that works, please let me know!)

Cleaning computers

An other thing that is often overlooked, is to physically clean out computers with a small compressor or a can of compressed air. Regular computers use fans for cooling. Unfortunately, with the fresh air, fans also blow dust into the housing. Over time, this dust create a nice blanket over the CPU, causing the CPU to run warmer. Fans blow faster to cool more, which only aggravates the issue by blowing in more dust. All these elements use additional energy and the fans create a lot of noise. Besides a very noisy machine, the risk of the computer crashing due to heat issues is increased and the lifetime of the computer is lowered. 

Just turning off computers, and performing some simple maintenance on the computers once or twice per year (when the computers are turned off anyway) will save you considerably in energy cost, extend the lifetime of the hardware and may avoid some crashes along the way..

[smallbizcio]

High Availability in the SMB

When I use the words High Availability (HA) when talking to my clients, it usually results in funny looks and them telling me that their environment is not a 24 hour shop. Asking further, HA is often equated with large expenses in purchase as well as maintenance.

On a separate note and just to be clear: Having backups available is NOT availability (high, low or anything in between). Backups are for catastrophic loss of data and are not meant to provide ongoing service when failure occurs.

Let's get a few terms out of the way. At the core, there are 3 parts to keeping a service alive throughout a failure: redundancy, fail-over and high availability. 

Redundancy is a 'physical' element, providing multiple units of the element in case one fails (servers, services, connections, etc.) 

Fail-over is a process which provides for the transfer of functionality to the redundant element. This requires an ongoing synchronization of data between the elements. Fail-over can be done manually or automatically.

High Availability is a measurement, most often associated with the time in which a fail-over takes place. In order to maintain high availability, the fail-over is usually done automatically, based on certain indicators.

All three go hand in hand and more advanced technologies such as clustering all ultimately operate on this principle.

The big question often becomes; what part of the infrastructure needs to be highly available? And, in many cases, I agree that most of the infrastructure in the standard SOHO environment is not required to have HA.

However - Think about your firewalls. What happens if you loose your Internet connection? Are you relying on email? Are you operating in the Cloud? How much does it cost YOU when your provider drops the ball?

If your budget is low and you still want an Internet connection that is up, mitigating as much risk of downtime as possible, consider the following option:

Get 2 internet connections through different technologies. DSL or a T1 as the first technology and a cable or WiFi connection on the other.

Get a router/firewall that can handle the 2 connections and that can automatically switch traffic if one connection fails. Examples of solutions that can do this are pfSense, Fortigate 60 Series and the Cisco ASA 5500 Series. These devices range from $250 - $750 with the proper licensing and configuration. Highlight goes to the pfSense because it is Open Source and can be ran on any type of hardware - even on an older computer or server to test it out.

For the price of the router, get a second one and configure it in automatic failover mode. 

This setup usually costs less than $1000 up front and adds $100-$150 for the secondary Internet connection (YMMV). Compare this cost with the total cost of being down for a few hours, a few times a year (which seems little here in South Florida) and it will earn itself back within the first year.

Next up - HA on your database servers.

[tumblrpigeon]

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.

Charles Darwin

[smallbizcio]

Testing some new themes...

If you see some changes on the blog, now you know why... :D

[smallbizcio]

Fantastic article written by Rick Huijbregts from Cisco Canada. 

How many of us still don’t believe that our children and their children will expect connectivity, wireless, and access to a personalized environment when the set foot in a home or building. Home many of us still don’t think that mobility, “cloud computing”, and virtualized compute power will change the landscape of the built environment and everything that we do in it, as we know it.

[smallbizcio]

What is Connected Real Estate and why should you care?

Now that slowly, but surely, the term Connected Real Estate is getting more traction, I often get the question about what CRE is. While there are many definitions from different sides of the spectrum, they all have one thing in common: 

First and foremost, Connected Real Estate defines that a complete real estate project is electronically connected to the outside world, which is most commonly done through a connection to the Internet. 

Having a complete building, shopping mall or other type of community connected as a whole, instead of through individually managed and maintained connections, opens a whole new way of generating value.

History

Not too long ago, the various departments in a company were disconnected from each other, while many of them had access to overlapping pieces of information. Usually, departments like Operations, HR and finance relied on their own methods to keep track of employee information of the same employee, client or vendor. Business systems have added an enormous value by giving all departments access to all of the relevant information through one looking glass, instantly and accurately.

Change..

Now, this change is slowly permeating the Real Estate industry as well. Connected Real Estate makes is possible for building management systems such as HVAC, fire suppression, lighting and other MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) systems to communicate - often about the same thing - and exchange important data points.

The collection of these data points can be used with the same purposes as the data in any other business; to improve troubleshooting, increase productivity, bring down TCO and to lead to improvements that can be used on future projects.

Rewards

The rewards for this effort are exponential to the size and scale of the project. The energy footprint can be drastically decreased and changes to the way energy is managed can be made on an ongoing bases. If you think that turning off a single lamp, when nobody is in the room,  helps with the electric bill, imagine what controlling the thousands of lamps in (and around) a smart building could do for the operation cost.

From this perspective, providing Internet services to the tenants of the building really seems a secondary benefit, but one with huge implications. So big even, that providers of services can be coached to provide their services at significantly lower rates or even, to make certain investments, creating a greater benefit for all parties involved.

All, including mother Nature. We're getting one step closer to be self sustaining.

[smallbizcio]

Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.

Howard Stevenson