...from the right people Guest authors The VP of Operations at Integra occasionally sends out copies of letters of satisfaction from our customers. This is intended to be motivational for Integra Telecom employes working on the front line, but it also represents a level of service that we are continually... Continue reading

Are you getting what you pay for? Are you frustrated with the services and equipment for communications? Companies spend thousands for voice connections to the publicly switched telephone network and even more for Internet access or Wide Area connectivity to other branch offices. Service and equipment providers are happy to... Continue reading

Confused? So was I a few years ago when a client pigeon-holed me to see if he could get more than he was expecting. MB versus mb. Mbps versus MB. Clue?: There is no such animal as megaBytes per second. There is only Megabits per second. Capital versus Lower case... Continue reading

Telecommunications companies providing basic telephone lines are usually considered a regulated utility in each State in which they operate. There is a term: “Tariff” which describes the available pricing for a service allowed by the governing State bureau and a list of fees, surcharges, network access assessments or taxes that... Continue reading

I am asked occasionally why someone should choose to migrate from separate networks for voice and data communications to a single network. I guess the easiest answer is: so you can get out of the telephone business. "Huh? What do you mean to get out of the telephone business?" Therein... Continue reading

Actually, Integra has had this product installed with customers for some time. We are expanding our reach and expanding our fiber network as well. As noted below, Integra is "Fiber-rich" and has a great deal of capacity. Integra is changing and improving the MPLS WAN capabilities to include Layer two... Continue reading

Day after day just doing the stuff That often seems small and never enough Take the time to stop and listen To ideas of others that may dim or glisten Discount only what you have tried Accept the likelihood nobody lied Perception, reality, and truth can conflict It is often... Continue reading

Some folks are not aware of a conflict between 911 or e911 dialing and Voice over IP or VoIP. There are limitations - take note: "The Federal Communications Commision ('FCC') requires Voice over Internet Protocol ('VoIP') providers inform their customers of the potential limitations of 911 service when access is... Continue reading

SLA is another three word acronym or TLA. The telecommunications business is covered up with SLA's and the 1000 plus page "Newton's Telecom Dictionary" is testimony to that fact. The acronym SLA stands for Service Level Agreement. This is an agreement that modifies the terms of performance between a service... Continue reading

Walking up to the food cart in NYC, the vendor says, "What can I do ya for Mac?" Frankly, I was not yet convinced I was going to buy his food, but I admit I was looking for something. Whether in our home and personal life or in our vocational... Continue reading

Mission critical shifts and changes may distract. Adapting to new business challenges has usually been absorbed by functionaries at the operational level, but recently, CIO’s and CTO’s have been caught up in the grinder of change. In a recent article written by Paul W. Taylor [1](2011), Paul suggests a new... Continue reading

It is not what makes us the same that makes us memorable, it is what makes us unique and sets us apart that provides remark-ability. In marketing, it is referred to as differentiation. The key is to make that difference a part of your value to others. There is an... Continue reading

This is a look inside the company at Integra Telecom. This demonstrates the desire and commitment to customer service that most companies can only SAY they have. See for yourself. Teamwork. A great thing to watch when it all comes together, which it did in this case to result in... Continue reading

The velocity of business is increasing again. Future shock has become the norm in business throughout the world. "Leapfrog" technologies were first discussed in relationship to developing nations adding cellular to areas where no wired infrastructure existed. Now we innovate to, look for and gain the greatest value from those... Continue reading

Have you ever heard the expression, “I don’t know what I don’t know?” Take a moment and reflect on your core business. Are you a surgeon, a logistics expert, a plumber, an IP network technician and a mechanic? Yeah – I’m not all those things either. If you are like... Continue reading

I was recently informed by my daughter that there has been some controversy over coffee shops advertising and offering a "Bikini Bari-sta" experience and even Lingerie Baristas - some of who have had some legal difficulties. They have apparently shown their C cups rather than their coffee in the cups.... Continue reading

I go into a restaurant and am served marginally well with unremarkable food and the waiter or manager comes up and asks, "How is everything?" And how do I respond? I say, "It's fine..." I get a survey from the quick change oil place asking how their service was and... Continue reading

Throughout the United States and the world we are seeing organizations that are focused on improving the methods used to do business. If we want to achieve and improve going forward, it will not happen with the same thinking, tools and actions we have relied on previously. A quote sometimes... Continue reading

To you fine folk who have or will take a moment to read my rants, I thank you. I believe we should always maintain an attitude of gratitude. This is a time of year that offers moments to reflect on our family and friends, our lives and our business. I... Continue reading

Can you describe the front door to your business? The one that most people see first and get their initial opinion of your organization from? Wait! Do you really have people walking in off of the street to transact business the first time you meet them? Or... maybe the front... Continue reading

A lot of discuss and attention is being given to "Cloud Computing." It offers various ways to allow businesses to reduce costs of applications and infrastructure. In a survey published this summer in Information Week, more than half of IT managers were moving some portion of their organization to Web-based... Continue reading

I get asked questions frequently about Bandwidth. "How can one carrier say bandwidth has a certain value and another says something more (or less) and they seem the same in use?" Beware of the "Up to" speed references. You may wonder what they are up to. Bandwidth is a funny... Continue reading

I tend you be a romantic. Either that, or I enjoy other people's pain. At either rate, there has been a noted increase in fishing spam about Weddings. Please be aware and avoid opening these items when recieved. There is no "happily ever after" waiting to be seen. The same... Continue reading

Feeling secure. I find it reassuring. What if there was a reason to feel insecure and you did not even know it? Isn't that doubt alone enough to make you lose your assurance?Malicious attackers are at your internet door and a firewall will do nothing to stop them. Surprised? So are a lot of people.Think it over... you have web mail that allows URL "links" in the door. A malicious link looks very much like a ordinary, benign link. Many people use Gmail or Yahoo or some other that bypass your firewall and in some cases bypass your end point security (anti-virus on the PC.) Companies are moving at a steady clip to software as a service meaning "Cloud-based" or "Software-as-a-service". The Browser - Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer - has become a regular gateway for employees to perform duties. And they are also an attack vector inward for Malicious software, spyware and content that is risky to your company.If you are thinking that patching the servers, add more rules to the firewall and update system configurations, you are inviting the "bad guys" to come into your digital house.* IT cannot ALWAYS know where an employee will need to go on the internet to perform work for the company.* User errors - such as a mis-spelled URL - can allow a exploit against your company.* Attackers are smart and resourceful and often compromise seeming innocuous sites.* Drive by downloads by a compromised legitimate site are used to infect many PC's and the Malware may not be discovered at all by normal means in use by most companies.Lat September the New York Times was found to be serving up Mal-ware through a third-party advertisement network. The attack against Google in China was a "Zero-Day" (new and previously unknown) attack against a flaw in Internet Explorer. All the monitoring and training may mean nothing without a comprehensive security strategy that is BOTH Proactive and Reactive.You cannot tell when you may be browsing through a bad neighborhood. Your incidental "walk" might cause a small piece of software to be downloaded that further compromises your system and exposes you, your company, and your customers to risk.Consider a next generation security appliance. These may include a Cisco ASA, a Fortinet box with Fortiguard managed services, or some other brand that blocks random attempts and also provides intrusion protection, Spam blocking, malware protection at the network (rather than after it hits the PC) and can secure your wireless and VPN services. Yes- it costs to upgrade - but what does it cost to defend a lawsuit from a customer due to lost private information? How about employee confidential information? Give it some thought and give me a call. I will steer your the right way.Randall - 610-404-6220 Continue reading