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Technology Matters.....with Tartan IS |
August 2010
Next generation broadband - 'to boldly go'
Feature Articles from Magazines
Star Trek, ‘the original’ as we must now call the first of anything, first aired on US TV in 1966. Its five year mission ‘to boldly go’ where no TV show had gone before was brought back to this star system some 79 episodes and 3 earth years later.
In almost a similar timescale since the last major release of broadband, the headline grabbing 8Meg speed, we now have the promise of ‘upto 40M bit/s’ with the arrival of ‘Fibre To The Cabinet’ (FTTC) broadband. Where on earth has it come from ? and what is the make up of this next generation of broadband to hit Northern Ireland.
Northen Ireland’s Next Generation Broadband Investment
On the run up to Christmas you can be forgiven for perhaps not having noticed our own ‘Next Generation’ beginning to evolve a press release from Arlene Foster’s Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) on the 3rd of December announcing £18M of investment into the ‘Next Generation Broadband Project’.
Unlike Star Trek it hasn’t taken us 20 years to get the ‘Next Generation’ in broadband just a mere 3 from the last significant upgrade of ‘ADSL Max’ when we went from 2M bit/s to the headline 8M bit/s.
Under the terms of the tender award for the ‘NG Project’ the rather fortunate winner, BT, has been given £18 million of European taxpayer money that will see 85% of all businesses in Northern Ireland able to access a next generation network by 2011. ‘Next Generation’ minimum download speeds for urban businesses are 10M bit/s and 2M bit/s for rural ones.
Roll forward 6 months and I’m pleased to say that this hasn’t all been future star gazing.
Where has it landed ?
First of all some quick statistics. There are 191 telephone exchanges in Northern Ireland ranging from the largest Bangor with approx. 30000 premises down to Rathlin Island with 70. Across the 191 exchanges there are approximately 2900 green roadside cabinets, those boxes where you see the BT man in a van fiddling away at your telephone wires. Our fibre project is going to upgrade some 161 exchanges (I know, 25 exchanges left off) covering some 1176 green cabinets. Oh and a word of caution not all cabinets on an exchange will be upgraded so there will be pockets where the high speed broadband will not shine.
As of July 26th we have seen approximately 325 new fibre cabinets, I hear they cost some £75,000 just to buy never mind install) going in alongside their standard green cousins and people from Newry to Derry and over to Bangor with all points in between able to get the new fibre service.
What does it look like ?
Fibre To the Cabinet or FTTC is when a fibre cable runs from the telephone exchange to a street, green cabinet that contains the broadband equipment.
From here it is linked to buildings and homes via the existing telephone copper network. This then connects the home or business to fibre optic broadband.
Keep an eye out for a shiny, green cabinet with lots of grilles on the front like this appearing at the end of your road as that is the ‘Fibre’ one.
What will it do for me ?
As Spock would say ‘The needs of the many outweigh the need of the few’ and these days our needs are certainly many from our broadband line.
A 10M bit/s or greater speed would benefit us from having:
• File download and upload in seconds (quicker back-up, HD video conferencing etc)
• No delay in bringing up Internet pages
• Minimum line download speed of 15Mbps
• Additional bandwidth will improve the performance of Virtual Private Networks making uploading and downloading of files more efficient, meaning working from home becomes a more viable option
• The use of multi-media and conferencing facilities will improve with higher download and upload speeds as will the use of live (legal) streaming services
• Your connectivity will be better equipped to cope with the forecasted exponential growth in high definition streaming
• Lower call costs by taking advantage of VoIP delivered over Fibre
What difference does the speed make ?
On average, across all of Northern Ireland, the average broadband speed is around the 2M bit/s. From the table below you can see the time saving if you were able to increase that download speed to 8M bit/s or even 24M bit/s. Engage that warp drive.
Meanwhile back on planet Earth ?
Achieving 24M bit/s may not be as ‘off the planet’ as it sounds. One very recent FTTC upgrade we advised on involved a home office user on the Whiteabbey Exchange went from an average download speed of 1M bit/s to the result below, don’t blink ! they really did achieve a sustained 37.23M bit/s download and 6 weeks later continue to get that same result.
So how do I ‘Make it so’ for myself and my business ?
The service is available to order now on the following telephone exchanges: Belfast Balmoral, Lisburn, Enniskillen, Whiteabbey and a good few others. It is planned to upgrade 85% of (approx. 160 of the 191) NI exchanges to FTTC.
As Jean Luc Picard of Star Trek....the Next Generation would say, to check if you can ‘Make It So’ for your own specific line please just email garry.macdonald@tartanis.co.uk the telephone number that your current broadband is on. Don’t worry if you don’t know it as we can also check based on your fax number so just send that on instead.
We will then email you back as and when you line is earmarked for upgrade with a result like the one below:
A typical fibre broadband test result
Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 31st October 2010. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 21Mbps and upstream line speed of 9.5Mbps.
Conclusion
Within the year the benefits of fibre broadband will be realised across the Province with a lucky few achieving spectacular download speeds. Perhaps we are even witnessing the beginning of the end of the automatic supply of a copper line to the home but until there is an equitable broadband service for all, regardless of your geographical location from the exchange (and now the green cabinet), then the fire of inequality will continue to burn brightly for, hopefully, a dwindling fewer than at present.
Garry MacDonald is Managing Director of Tartan Information Solutions. Tartan IS offers reliable outsourced IT Services to companies that have little or no in-house IT expertise. Garry can be contacted to provide further information on the above or to book a free IT Audit by phone on 028 9094 5542, online at http://www.tartanis.co.uk/ or by email
The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute professional or other advice.
May 2010
Make Management Mobile - A Small Collection of Useful Resources
Feature Articles from Magazines
- Smartphones v. Netbook v. Tablet – which is best for you ? http://bit.ly/dpkcYC
- A buyers guide to the ‘Top 10 Netbooks’ http://bit.ly/c0Sw7g
- A buyers guide to the ‘Top 10 Laptops’ http://bit.ly/avjZB7
- A buyers guide to the ‘Top 10 Smartphones’ http://bit.ly/ajoRrE
- A buyers guide to the ‘Top 10 must have gadgets’ http://bit.ly/cTP6pj
- Stuff Magazine’s ‘Top 10 smartphones’ http://bit.ly/acRxLE
Apple iPhone
- Top 5 iPhone Apps for business from PC Pro magazine http://bit.ly/clB89L
- 150+ iPhone 3G best tips to make your life a little easier http://bit.ly/a2zUud
- The ultimate business users guide for getting most out of iPhone http://bit.ly/boO0jt
Apple
- Sync between your MAC, PC and iPhone with ‘mobileme’ http://bit.ly/cfY7dg
Blackberry
- The ultimate tutorial to getting the best out of a Blackberry http://bit.ly/ciLgGq
- Top 5 Blackberry Apps for business from PC Pro magazine http://bit.ly/bB3Gsz
- A guide to Blackberry Messenger 5.0 http://bit.ly/aghDSK
- Blackberry Express Server A free version of its Enterprise Server software aimed at small businesses with an Exchange or SBS Server http://bit.ly/9lNICb
Microsoft
- Microsoft at home site, monthly newsletter that keeps you up-to-date with news and information that can help you get more out of your computer http://bit.ly/cOBpey
- 7 ways to organize your email if you are using Microsoft Outlook http://bit.ly/9Lydrg
- 4 ways to take control of your email inbox http://bit.ly/bvCfUF
- 10 ways to get an hour back ! http://bit.ly/dfH9xQ
- Office Collaboration with Microsoft Office Live Workspace http://bit.ly/csaxMd
- A recognized thought leader and innovator in the field of productivity management, Sally McGhee’s book ‘Take Back Your Life !: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to Get Organised and Stay Organized http://bit.ly/aaLmFY
- Feature comparison between Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 and Outlook Web Access 2007 http://bit.ly/9Mkz4w
- Microsoft Live Mesh for synchronising, accessing and sharing your files http://bit.ly/aDzRDU
- Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager demonstration http://bit.ly/d1hWZs
- Business Contact Manager (BCM) 2007 what’s new ? http://bit.ly/bgS4Kd
Google
- Gmail tips and tricks http://bit.ly/aOukiC
- 35 best Google ‘Nexus One’ mobile phone tips and tricks http://bit.ly/aVnm2w
Social Networking
- 500+ Twitter tips and tricks for all level of practioners from beginner to bloggers or just the curious as to what can be achieved http://bit.ly/dDAaoc
Useful Accessories
- Shorten those massively long URLs down to a few characters; you don’t get much shorter than this http://bit.ly/
- Brodit car holders for your mobile phones http://bit.ly/bTDSvD
- Bluetooth car kits from Parrot http://bit.ly/bcLRL7
- Broadband availability and likely speed you can get checker http://bit.ly/bPN0XA
Collaboration
- Run your own web based surveys with Survey Monkey http://bit.ly/dhipEg
- Conduct an online meeting from home with Go To Meeting.com http://bit.ly/bnSgB2
- Promote your events online and take payment for them with Event Brite http://bit.ly/9pMqPV
- Email marketing and email list management http://bit.ly/cTcZoK
Garry MacDonald is Managing Director of Tartan Information Solutions. Tartan IS offers reliable outsourced IT Services to companies that have little or no in-house IT expertise. Garry can be contacted to provide further information on the above or to book a free IT Audit by phone on 028 9094 5542, online at http://www.tartanis.co.uk/ or by email
The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute professional or other advice.
March 2010
Fingers in Gear, Brain in Neutral – The ‘Send’ Safety Net
Sometimes the Send button can backfire. Have you ever sent a mail to the wrong person by mistake? Have you ever sent an email and then realised a second too late that you forgot an important point, or could have worded things more carefully, or even misspelled something obvious, like your own name?
Luckily, in Outlook you can set up a safety net for the Send button. You may find that it saves you a lot of potential embarrassment. Delayed send is a simple idea: When you hit Send, Outlook automatically retains the message in your Outbox folder for a short length of time (for instance, one minute) before sending. Most times you won’t notice the delay. And if you hit Send and then realise you made a mistake, you can go to your Outbox, open up the message, modify it, and then re-send it – and the recipients never see the mistake.
Here’s how you set up delayed send in Outlook 2007:
1. Go to Tools>Rules and Alerts.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Select Check messages after sending and then click Next.
4. Click Next again. When Outlook confirms that you want this rule to apply to every message you send, click Yes.
5. Check the checkbox next to defer delivery by a number of minutes:
6. Click on “a number of” and choose how many minutes you want mail to be delayed. I find that 1 minute works very well.
7. Click Finish.
8. If your mail server is Microsoft Exchange, Outlook will tell you that this is a client-side rule, which is fine; click OK.
9. Click OK to close the Rules and Alerts window.
And now the safety net is in place! Try it – send a mail message, then go to the Outbox. Your message will wait patiently in the Outbox until the delay is over, and then away it goes. During the delay, you can double-click the message at any time to stop it from being sent, so you can make modifications and hit Send again. (Hitting Send again will reset the delay, so that you get another minute to rethink your changes.)
Note that Outlook needs to be running in order to actually send the message, so you should leave Outlook open until the message leaves the Outbox. If you’re in the habit of dashing off a quick mail and then immediately closing your laptop or powering down your computer, you’ll want to set up an exception to the delayed-send rule, which leads me to…
The exception to the rule
It’s important to remember that this delayed-send rule will apply to every message you send. There may be times when you don’t want the delay in place. For instance, you may want to send mail immediately. Or, you may want to delay the delivery of a single message for longer than the rule specifies. (The delayed-send rule will override any delay-delivery settings you put on a single message, so it could cause messages to be sent sooner than you want.) If you want to be able to send mails without triggering the rule, you can set up category that exempts mail from the delayed-send rule. Here’s how to do that:
1. Go back to Tools>Rules and Alerts.
2. Select the delayed-send rule that you just created and click Change Rule > Edit Rule Settings.
3. Click Next, and click Yes for the “apply to every message” prompt.
4. Click Next again.
5. Under “Are there any exceptions,” check the checkbox next to except if assigned to category category.
6. Click on the “category” link. You’ll be taken to the Color Categories window.
7. Click New to create a new category.
8. Name it “Urgent” (or whatever you prefer) and click OK. (Note that some people who receive your messages marked in this manner may see the category attached to your message; it’s best to choose a category name that you don’t mind other people reading.)
9. You should now see the “Urgent” category checked:
10. Click OK. You should now see that the rule will only apply to messages that don’t have the “Urgent” category:
11. Click Finish.
Then you can do the following to mark an individual mail as urgent before sending it:
1. Under the Home tab, click the dialog launcher for the Options chunk:
2. Click on the Categories button and choose “Urgent.”
3. Click Close.
When you click Send, the message will send immediately.
Garry MacDonald is Managing Director of Tartan Information Solutions. Tartan IS offers reliable outsourced IT Services to companies that have little or no in-house IT expertise. Garry can be contacted to provide further information on the above or to book a free IT Audit by phone on 028 9094 5542, online at http://www.tartanis.co.uk/ or by email
The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute professional or other advice.
March 2010
Fingers in Gear, Brain in Neutral – The ‘Send’ Safety Net
Sending our invoices via email has improved our cash flow by reducing our debtor days by 25% whilst also dramatically cutting the cost of sending every invoice by £1.28, saving us £100/month.
Last year, after having suffered one too many Belfast postal strikes, we began to look into ways that we could continue to send out our invoices independent of the Royal Mail.
Being a computer company, we looked to see what technology was at hand and discovered that we could simply email our invoices from our SAGE line 50 accounts package. At that stage, circa 2007, it was version 12.0 and up until that point we had always printed and posted our invoices.
Initial Considerations When Setting Up e-Invoicing
There were four immediate issues:
1. Would our customers accept their invoices via email?
2. If so, who should we send it to?
3. Does the invoice come across clearly enough in an email?
4. Can we repeat regular invoices?
Surprisingly enough, we thought it may be too radical a step, when we emailed our customers to discuss what we were planning we were met with: 'Great idea', 'No problem, lots of our suppliers already send us email invoices', 'Oh that sounds novel, go ahead'. In fact, out of 80 regular customers, only two asked to continue receiving invoices through the post.
Encouraged by our customers' response we asked 'Who should we send these invoices to?' In most cases it was the same accounts contact that we had always dealt with but in some cases we were asked to send to another colleague or a specially set-up email address mailto:accounts@customer.co.uk .
Having established who to send our e-Invoice to we then turned our attention as to how it appeared in our customers' INBOX. Primarily that was because we used pre-printer letterhead with our logo, registered address and VAT details. That meant we then had to replicate those details in our e-Invoice, no straightforward task as it entailed us getting to grips with SAGE's Report Designer. If you've ever had to use it you'll know what I mean.
After a few attempts I think we managed to get it right for our needs and it was greatly enhanced by being able to send it as a PDF, which meant that it could be easily read and unable to be changed after sending. See what I mean by having a look for yourself.
Finally, SAGE has the facility to run 'repeating invoices', which greatly cuts down on the work in producing consistent monthly, quarterly and annual invoices.
Business Benefits We Have Gained From e-Invoicing
Our invoices now go out quicker and more regularly than before, unaffected by postal strikes, which means our cash flow is not adversely impacted. In fact, being able to invoice quicker and easier has now improved our cash flow as producing invoices takes much less time, are less laborious and are now not the job that was previously put off until the end of the month.
The cost of sending a single invoice has come down from:
a. Price of headed notepaper, ink and envelope = £0.05
b. Price of 2nd class stamp = £0.23
c. Saving in time producing an e-Invoice 3 mins @ £20/hour = £1.00
Total = £1.28/invoice - this means, based on 80 invoices, we're saving approximately £100/month in material costs and time.
Finally, being able to send invoices via email now means that it is far easier/quicker to re-send any missing or copy invoices via email than by fax or post. Having experienced the benefits for the past 18 months we have found that, in terms of payback, the set-up paid for itself within the first 6 months and we would whole heartedly recommend this solution to our clients.
Garry MacDonald is Managing Director of Tartan Information Solutions. Tartan IS offers reliable outsourced IT Services to companies that have little or no in-house IT expertise. Garry can be contacted to provide further information on the above or to book a free IT Audit by phone on 028 9094 5542, online at www.tartanis.co.uk or by email
The content of this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute professional or other advice.
