Dan Chu, Vice President of Cloud Infrastructure and Services, explains what virtualization is in an easy to understand demonstration and how it can help save your business money.
Many businesses and companies today are beginning to migrate their server applications from a physical server to a virtual one through the process of virtualization. Virtualization means that instead of having a server for each application your business uses; you can (with the right equipment and software) combine the different servers into one physical server with several virtual servers running on the physical server. This not only saves money by eliminating the need for many costly servers to support your network but also eliminates the costs needed to store and provide power to all of the servers.
Gregor Petri is an author who has written and contributed to several books on the topic of virtualization and cloud computing. He offers several thoughts when considering moving to a virtualized server setting:
1. He first warns companies to be aware of what he calls VM sprawl. That is where the number of virtualized machines (VM) increases over time simply because of how easy it is to create them and not because they are actually needed. He says the concern of having too many virtualized machines that aren’t really needed is in the cost of the additional licenses as well as the “overuse of the infrastructure.” Petri says that to prevent VM sprawl you need to be able to justify a reason for each virtualized machine you intend on creating as well as the additional cost of each machine.
2. Second, be flexible and able to adapt to the changes of your network.
SDN offers its customers Virtualization solutions and is constantly updating its product line to offer the best possible solutions. Interested in reading more about Virtualization? Click here to read more blog posts. http://www.sdncommunications.com/blog/?cat=13
Click here to read the full article
Zach Edman
Marketing Intern
SDN Communications
Watch this video to hear Marketing Manager, Vernon Brown, tell you more about SDN Communications, our reach, our services, and our expanded number of offices:
Nokia Siemens has announced plans to build a $7 billion 4G wireless network that when finished, will cover approximately 92% of the U.S population. The term “4G” describes the fourth-generation of wireless networks that can offer peak download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second. This download speed is approximately 10 times faster than the current 3G wireless network most mobile carriers still provide. Sprint is currently the only mobile device provider that has began to allow customers use of its 4G network with AT&T and Verizon rolling out their 4G networks by the end of 2011.
Nokia plans to have the network, called LightSquared, completed by 2015 and plans to sell it to wholesale users such as T-Mobile or MetroPCS, current wireless providers who don’t necessarily have the bandwidth capabilities to offer 4G services. These and other companies could buy bandwidth on the LightSquared network and not have to worry about building their own network infrastructure.
The real end benefit to consumers is the ability to connect to a 4G network with more devices in more locations across the country. Like Nokia, SDN loves new technology opportunities and takes pride in its own network infrastructure.
Click here to read the full article.
Zach Edman
Marketing Intern
SDN Communications
SDN is in the final planning stages for a new building location that would serve as a disaster recovery center. The building will help ensure that service to SDN’s customers continues, uninterrupted, even in the event of a major emergency. In addition, the $10 million technology center will have rental space for data center storage and co-location available to other companies.
Click here to read the full article in the Sioux Falls Business Journal.
Julie Hoyer
Marketing Specialist
Telecom research shows some statistics that may surprise you.
CHART 1.) The United States comes in fifth place when measured by “percentage of population with broadband access.” Surprised? (Germany, Canada, France and the UK led the way.) And when the U.S. goes up against the world in “broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants,” it ranks No. 22. (We were below countries like Korea, Canada, France and the UK.)
What are we doing to make headway? The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program) (BIP) should be helping to stimulate growth in the United States. Even President Obama has directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (the folks behind the broadband stimulus) to help the FCC with a plan to make 500 MHz of spectrum available by the fourth quarter of 2010.
Does SDN Communications have a role in this nationwide effort? SDN was chosen receive a $20 million BTOP broadband stimulus grant to connect rural hospitals, schools, libraries and public safety agencies in South Dakota with 359 miles of fiber. That means 305 new anchor institutions in our state will have SDN’s 10 Megabit per second services. Hopefully the nation will follow South Dakota’s lead for fiber-optic power.
Source: Information Week, July 12, 2010
CHART 2.) Does it surprise you that Cisco topped the charts for both of these best-selling vendor lists? Cisco also came in first for network security hardware. Out of the 19 category charts listed in CRN Magazine, eight of them were led by Cisco or HP. HP was the No. 1 company in color displays, laser printers, desktops and notebooks. As CRN states, “It’s HP and Cisco’s world; we just live in it.”
Source: CRN Magazine, March 2010
Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications
SDN Communications’ Network Surveillance Center (NSC) fields calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The NSC monitors circuits, equipment, switches and routers. They are the front-lines for incoming customer calls.
Cassie Baldwin, NSC Supervisor, explains how good customer service is a high priority for our customers 24×7x365:
Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD) has been awarded a $14.9 million contract to use towards a marketing initiative called Project Endeavor. The project’s goal is aimed at improving access to technology such as broadband and videophones to populations of deaf and hard of hearing.
CSD hopes to get the project up and running in the next three months and will be partnering with SDN Communications, among other agencies, to make it happen.
Click here to read the full article in the Argus Leader.
Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications
You’re interested in Unified Communications (UC), but you’re not sure exactly what else it can bring to your office besides dial tone and voice mail.
Consider this. If you integrate your phone system into the applications you use every day, like a customer relationship management tool (CRM) (like Sugar CRM, SalesForce.com, etc.) it can make a profitable difference. A simple “click-to-dial” or a “screen pop” increases productivity and makes the software and your day-to-day business run more smoothly.
Another feature to try is mobile phone integration. Single Number Reach (also known as Simultaneous Ring or Sim Ring) is a feature that allows one phone number to ring your desk phone and your mobile phone at the same time. It also allows you to switch an active call between the phones. UC can replace chat tools like AIM and Messenger with enterprise versions and can deploy high-end desktop videoconferencing. Besides improving employee collaboration and efficiency, UC also creates a more mobile workforce for your office (saving you travel expenses).
In the end, you get to pick and choose which pieces of UC to implement. If you’d like a demonstration of these features or a list of more benefits, visit our website or contact SDN.
Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications
In June, I attended the South Dakota/North Dakota Banker Association Annual Convention in Fargo as part of SDN Technologies. The banking industry is going through a lot of changes; many of which have an effect on community banks in North and South Dakota. The regulatory environment within the banking industry has encountered significant change. SOX/PCI compliance along with new offerings like Remote Deposit require community banks to embrace new levels of sophistication that would have been unexpected even 3 or 4 years ago.
Despite these new challenges and lingering effects of the economy, community banks continue to move forward on core, strategic IT initiatives like IP Telephony and storage. Attendees were also interested in technologies that can either help generate incremental revenue, like MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) broadband, or lessen risks, like advanced network security appliances.
If you’d like to find out more about what technologies SDN can offer your bank, call me at 605-978-1038.
Eric Sahly
Senior Account Executive
SDN Technologies
