Integrated T1 Service Ideal for SMBs

Small and medium businesses have come a long way from the days when a cash register and order pad were all the technology you needed to complete transactions. Today, every operation from the quick service restaurant to the insurance or real estate sales office, grocery store, electronics retailer, radio station and professional services office needs electronic voice and data communications just to open the doors every day. The challenge is to get the most reliable service at the best price.

The two most common communications needs are telephone service and Internet access. In most cases, this means multiple phone lines and broadband Internet service. A business location will typically start with a few analog phone lines tied into a key telephone system. Those are the phones where you push a button to select the line you wish to answer or call out on. Retail stores use those same phone lines for the credit card machines, many times even sharing lines between telephone and credit transactions.

How about Internet access? Businesses use the Internet for everything from online research, email, web site hosting, creating WiFi hotspots, order entry to remote sales sites, streaming audio, demonstrating technology like computers, ordering supplies, and downloading financial data to a home office or franchisor. Point of Sale systems can use the Internet for credit card verification, speeding up this part of the transaction. Security cameras can stream video to remote monitoring sites via broadband Internet.

Unfortunately, the Internet can be the weak link in the system. "Best Effort" shared access services, such as DSL and Cable broadband, have no performance commitment and no guaranteed availability. The line can go down for hours or longer, or bog down to the point where data just barely flows. At such time, any VoIP phone services will also become garbled or drop calls completely.

One solution that works for many businesses that depend heavily on reliable Internet access is to install T1 dedicated Internet service. This gives you a highly reliable connection at 1.5 Mbps directly to the Internet Service provider and not shared with residences or other businesses. If more bandwidth is needed, additional T1 lines can be bonded to create a bigger digital pipe. However, smaller businesses or those not heavily using the Internet as a core part of their business may find they really don't need all the continuous bandwidth of a T1 line. It's the reliability they really want.

Integrated T1 service gives SMBs a way to get highly reliable phone service and highly reliable Internet service in a very cost attractive bundle. How? By using a single T1 line for both telephone and Internet.

Here's how it works. A T1 line used exclusively for telephone service can replace 23 or 24 separate telephone lines. But chances are that your business doesn't need anywhere near that many outside lines. You may actually need only 3 to 12 lines connected to your internal key or PBX telephone system. The remaining capacity of the T1 line can be used for broadband Internet access rather than remaining idle. In other words, the T1 line can replace all of the separate analog phone lines plus the DSL or Cable Internet service.

The device that makes this possible is called an IAD or Integrated Access Device. One of these is installed at the business premises and another at the Integrated T1 service provider. The IAD manages the T1 line to ensure that all telephone calls have all the bandwidth they need for full voice quality. The remaining bandwidth is used for dedicated Internet access. Even with 12 phone calls in progress, there can be more Internet speed available than with many DSL services. If no calls are in progress, the full T1 line is used for Internet. This is sometimes referred as a dynamic T1 line, to differentiate it from static service which dedicates a full T1 line to all voice or all data.

What makes Integrated T1 service particularly effective for small and medium businesses is that you can use your regular phones and phone system but apply the monthly phone line bills to the cost of the Integrated T1. You will also not need to pay for separate broadband Internet service. The IAD, phone service and Internet service are all included with your Integrated T1. Even the smallest retail locations can have as robust phone and Internet service as the big companies. The size of the service and the monthly cost are scaled for smaller businesses.

Is Integrated T1 line service right for your business? Why not talk it over with our technical consultants and get competitive pricing to compare with your other options? Spend a few minutes and you may save yourself a lot of potential grief and perhaps a lot of money too. Simply call the toll free number or put in a quick online quote request at T1 Rex now.

Online Team Collaboration Bandwidth Challenges and Solutions

Online collaboration is becoming more and more important as teams diversify and spread-out worldwide. The notion of a workgroup consisting of a colocated team all sitting in one room has morphed into the virtual workgroup with ad-hoc members linked electronically instead of face to face. This new paradigm has orders of magnitude more flexibility, but to maintain the efficiency of a tightly knit interactive team requires collaboration tools that are fueled by bandwidth. The bigger the team, the greater the challenge and the more demanding the links.

Consider what you achieve with two people or a small team in close proximity. You have instant voice communications, including facial expressions and body language. Everyone can gather around a screen or a prototype to critique or bat around ideas. Documents can be handed off, literally, by arms reach. You also develop a certain esprit de corps by close association toward common goals.

Well, that's at least in the best of situations. In larger organizations it's just not possible to have everyone within earshot, especially when they need to be in different facilities. The lab, the factory, the warehouse, the client's office and so on are geographically spread out. Now add-in the customers, the suppliers and outsourced efforts. Soon nobody is within earshot of anyone else.

Fortunately, most important information is now generated electronically and is handled in its native format. Physical proximity doesn't mean so much to a network. The person sitting at a PC down the hall seems no further away than the person on a laptop in the airport a thousand miles distant. We can leverage that speed of light communications to include voice, images, video, instant messages, email, instrumentation, and even manufacturing equipment control. Web collaboration software allows far flung team members to see and mark-up documents just as they would with marker pens in a conference room. Plus, nobody has to run copies and mail them for overnight delivery. Remote printers give everyone their own copies almost instantly.

Most collaboration tools are standardized for IP transmission, the corporate LAN standard. What you need to do is extend that LAN to cover multiple sites, remote workers, suppliers and customers. As the LAN leaves the facility it becomes the WAN or Wide Area Network. WANs can be the big bottleneck because costs go up quickly with distance and bandwidth.

If only a few locations are involved and they must communicate reliably with heavy use, private lines can make the most sense. A private line is just that. It's a dedicated connection between two points with exclusive use of the bandwidth. The most common private lines are T1 lines running at 1.5 Mbps bidirectionally. Being used exclusively for private transmission, that bandwidth may well be enough to support web sites, email, IM, Web-based video conferencing, VoIP telephony, and document file transfers.

If T1 bandwidth isn't enough due to huge file sizes like you find with engineering design and simulation of large systems, or a need for real-time high definition video, you can move up incrementally or in discrete steps. T1 lines can be bonded to get multiples of 1.5 Mbps. Above 10 Mbps, fractional DS3 or full DS3 at 45 Mbps is another commonly available increment. You may also be able to get native IP transmission with carrier Ethernet, depending on location. Ethernet WANs are 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet is 100 Mbps, and GigE is 1,000 Mbps. With GigE between sites, it's hard to imagine running out of bandwidth on the network.

When usage is sporadic, it may be more cost effective to employ virtual private networking over the Internet. Each location connects via a T1 or DS3 dedicated Internet service and all data is encrypted for security. This is probably the lowest cost mesh network you can achieve, because most the network is a public utility. If you need committed information rates rather than the Internet's "best effort" service, an MPLS private network can give you highly reliable and predictable mesh connections, where every location can communicate with every other location.

Which solution works best for your collaboration efforts obviously depends highly on your bandwidth and location requirements. Perhaps a combination of connectivity options will prove to be the most cost effective. We have the expertise to assist in achieving the collaborative interactions you desire, and at the best prices. Why not discuss your needs with our technical experts and receive a set of competitive quotes from our suite of carriers? This service is available at no charge for serious business applications. Simply call the toll free number or enter a quick online quote request at T1 Rex now.

Cingular BlackJack i607 is a Winning Handheld

You won't take too much of a gamble with the new Cingular BlackJack wireless device. This Windows smartphone takes on the Palm Treo, the Motorola Q and the BlackBerry devices to offer a winning combination of features for the mobile professional.

The BlackJack is a Samsung smartphone that's only available with Cingular Wireless service. But, it's hooked up for high speed data downloads via Cingular's HSDPA service at up to 700 Kbps or EDGE at up to 144 Kbps. Cingular has been slower out of the gate for 3G network deployment than Verizon or Sprint, but they have the advantage of being able to offer a true "world phone" with quad band GSM and dual band UMTS service. UMTS or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is the GSM equivalent of EVDO in the CDMA world. HSDPA is the fastest service, followed by EDGE, and GPRS for speeds equivalent to dial-up. Both voice and data access are almost universally available, but your download speed will depend on where you are. Generally, the most populated areas and high traffic business travel locations like airports have the best cellular broadband connectivity.

Another notable characteristic of the BlackJack, also known as the Samsung i607, is that it is only a half-inch in thickness. Thin profile cell phones and wireless messaging devices are the current fashion in wireless design. The trick is to get both high functionality and long battery life in a thin design. This one doesn't disappoint, as talk time is up to 330 minutes or 5 1/2 hours. Standby is up to 11 days. It's lightweight, too. Just 3.5 ounces, making it easy to carry in a pocket or bag.

You'll also find a full backlit QWERTY keyboard with angled keys. It's exactly what's needed for the fully featured Pocket Outlook email client. You'll have attachment viewing for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and PDF documents. You can synch over the air using ActiveSync or via Bluetooth or USB cable. The Microsoft Outlook Calendar supports meeting requests.

Other messaging features include Microsoft Pocket Explorer with HTML support for Web browsing, SMS text messaging, multimedia messaging, and Instant messaging with popular IM clients already loaded.

The Cingular BlackJack offers a 1.3 Megapixel digital camera with 2x digital zoom and picture editing tools. It will capture video at 15 frames per second in H.263 and MPEG4 formats. Viewing is made vivid with a 2.2 inch TFT 65K color main display. The BlackJack supports streaming multimedia and includes an MP3 player for tunes and podcasts. The Bluetooth on this device includes streaming to wireless stereo headsets using the A2DP protocol, as well as the more common clip-on telephony headsets.

BlackJack has a 200 MHz TI processor running Windows Mobile 5.0. Built-in memory is 120 MB ROM and 64 MB Ram. However, expandable memory cards can boost that up to 2 GB of storage using the microSD/TransFlash card format. The outstanding phone book gives you 36 fields per contact plus notes. Voice-activated dialing lets you record voice tags for phone book entries, as well as voice memos.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Gigabit Bonding Comes of Age

Technology has an insatiable appetite for computing resources. Processor throughput, memory, storage and communications bandwidth are in no danger of going out of demand anytime soon. The problem is that we're pushing the limits of what we can do with our conventional architectures sooner than applications would like. In the case of CPU throughput, multiple parallel processors let us increase the Megaflop throughput easier than trying to up the MHz of the processors. Terabytes of disk storage are easier to create by adding drives rather than making bigger platters.

The same principle of parallel processing works to increase bandwidth. T1 line bonding is a common way to increase WAN bandwidth by multiples of the standard 1.5 Mbps. The next logical service increment is T3 or DS3 service at 45 Mbps, but that generally requires fiber optic transmission lines that aren't universally available. It can also be considerably more expensive if all you need is 3 to 10 Mbps.

But what if you need massive bandwidth even beyond what is available on fiber optic line service? How about 100 Gigabit Ethernet as a WAN network? That's a tough order to fill, as the fastest Ethernet WAN services generally available run at 10 Gbps. On the SONET side, OC48 is a typical backbone service. But that's just 2.5 Gbps. OC192 has a transmission speed of 9.953 Mbps, basically a match for 10 Gig-E.

So how do you get to that next level of 100 Gigabits per second today? Using similar principles to increasing WAN speeds by bonding T1 lines together. Take 10 available 10 GigE wavelength services and use them as a parallel bundle to achieve a total throughput of 100 GigE. In effect, Gigabit bonding. The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't require an order of magnitude transmission speed increase. You can get 100 Gigabit Ethernet with today's networks.

Well, actually you do need some specialized equipment that's just in the demonstration stage. In fact the first demonstration of this approach by the developers, Finisar, Infinera, Internet2, Level 3 Communications and the University of California at Santa Cruz, was a 4,000 Km link from Tampa, Florida to Houston, Texas and back again. The clever design approach uses DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) to create bonded wavelengths called "super lambdas." In this demo system, a single chip provides lane alignment and packet ordering.

So who needs 100 Gigabyte Ethernet WANs? This kind of bandwidth may eventually become the norm for HDTV networks, video production, astronomy, seismology, telemedicine, supercomputing and research including real-time simulations. Corporate LANs are already filling up 10 Gbps LANs and 100 Gbps LANs will be here before we know it. WAN bandwidths are going to have to increase to keep up or become the irritating bottleneck that limits system performance. In fact, how long will it be until the next demonstration bonds 100 wavelengths to create a Tbps long distance network?

Having trouble finding reasonably priced high bandwidth services for your demanding applications? Let our technical experts offer you solutions from a few Mbps to Gigabit Ethernet and beyond. Call toll free or use the easy online request form at GigaPackets now.

Carrier Ethernet Services Expand The LAN

Ethernet, pretty much the default standard for Local Area Networks, is now being touted as the coming replacement for metro and wide area services such as ATM, Frame Relay, SONET and even TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) networks in general. That's pretty much out with telecommunications as we've known it and in with something new. Or at least something new to Wide Area Networking.

Why Carrier Ethernet? It's actually quite logical, even Darwinian, that Ethernet should swallow up competing metropolitan and long haul digital transmission standards. That's exactly what happened over the last 30 years as Ethernet evolved from a research paper to the preeminent local area networking standard. Now that Ethernet is the best understood and most widely supported network protocol, it only makes sense to join local area networks to metropolitan area networks to wide area networks, perhaps worldwide networks. Why not have one ubiquitous standard used by all?

In fact, in the telephony world there has been just such a ubiquitous standard for digital communications. It's TDM or Time Division Multiplexing. A PBX system plugs into a T1 PRI line. Multiple T1s are multiplexed to form T3 lines or DS3 services that are further multiplexed into SONET fiber optic carriers. The complete digital signal hierarchy is designed around the lowest common denominator, the DS0 or 64 Kbps channel. Why 64 Kbps? That's the channel size to accommodate one digitized telephone call.

The only problem is that computers, especially PC based computing, is not designed around legacy analog telephone services. Local area networking is based on Ethernet, which is based on data packets rather than synchronized time slots. It is at the local/wide area interface that the clash of cultures occurs. Right now that largely means protocol conversions so that 10/100 base T and GigE networks can send data over T1, DS3, and SONET networks. ATM cells and Frame Relay frames can be converted to and from TDM format. Even long haul Internet connections often employ TDM based optical carrier services.

These accommodations certainly do work, but it seems more efficient to have a single network protocol from end to end. As telephony starts to convert from TDM based telephone switching systems to VoIP equipment, it makes sense to migrate toward Ethernet as the future standard. The challenge is to engineer wide area Ethernet networks that offer the same reliability and protections designed into TDM networks.

That's where Carrier Ethernet Services come into play. Carrier Ethernet is a fairly new development being standardized by the Metro Ethernet Forum. The MEF has defined five attributes that are essential for carrier grade Ethernet service. They are standardized services, scalability, reliability, quality of service and service management.

Standardization of services must include provisions to carry legacy TDM traffic that is highly time sensitive. In effect, flipping the current situation where TDM circuits transport Ethernet packets from one LAN to another by fitting them into available TDM channels. Instead, carefully controlled packet networks will carry TDM data without the latency and packet loss that can occur on "best effort" networks.

Carrier Ethernet Services are already available in major metropolitan areas from competitive carriers such as XO Communications. You can order 10 Mbps Ethernet, 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet connections to match your current network bandwidth. Standard 10BaseT, 100BaseTX, and 1000BaseSX/LX interfaces are supported at the WAN edges. It's almost a plug-and-play situation allowing you to treat your interconnected LANs as one large network, even when spread across the country.

Regardless of whether your connectivity needs are for retail point of sale, dedicated Internet access, large call center telephony or corporate WAN support, our team of technical experts stand ready to help you assess cost & benefits of multiple networking options. There is no cost or obligation for this consulting service. Simply enter a short request for quote or call the toll free number available through our GigaPackets Network Bandwidth Service.

Sprint Gets The Motorola RAZR V3m Gray Razor Phone

If you are a fan of Sprint PCS wireless service but have really been wanting a RAZR phone, you're in luck at last. Sprint now has the famous "razor phone" and this version is one of the latest. It's the RAZR V3m Gray with support for your favorite Sprint PCS services.

The Motorola RAZR V3m Gray has the best of RAZR technology, including the latest updates. What started the razor revolution is the slim profile of this business and personal workhorse. It's just a half-inch package. Such a thin chassis is made rugged by use of an aircraft grade aluminum shell. The aluminum can be anodized various colors. This one is a cool silver gray.

Another component of the thin RAZR design is the feather-touch precision crafted keypad. This etched metal keyboard requires just a slight pressure to activate. It is complemented by a large high resolution color main display. The 262,000 color capability is well matched to the 1.3 Megapixel digital camera that takes print quality still photos or short video clips up to 15 seconds long. Multimedia messaging supports Sprint PCS PictureMail and Sprint PCS VideoMail.

Hands-free operations include Bluetooth wireless headphone support, a built-in speakerphone and advanced voice activated dialing. You just speak a phonebook name to dial the phone.

This RAZR V3m Gray is enabled for the Sprint EV-DO cellular broadband network. The high speed data link supports downloads at up to 700 Kbps in most large population areas and up to 70 Kbps everywhere Sprint PCS service is available. You have POP3 email capability, SMS text messaging, and Instant Messaging on the go.

In addition to sharing photos and video clips, the multimedia capability of the RAZR V3m makes it possible to watch on-demand Sprint TV or listen to streaming music through the Sprint Music Store, if you wish to add these advanced services to your account. If you need more memory for multimedia activities, you can easily expand the built-in 30 MB memory of the phone with replaceable MicroSD/Transflash memory cards.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.