This EV-DO WiFi router may be enough to get me to subscribe to Verizon Wireless broadband wireless EV-DO. I wish Verizon's EV-DO coverage was better.
Some more information on the EV-DO WiFi router.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Friday, March 03, 2006
Broadband In The Boonies
Notes on setting up shop far from good internet access.
Navini networks has some wimax deployed in the field. A base station near an internet connection pointed at the remote wimax modem can provide a connection. Craft a reflecting antenna around the back side to direct the beam. Navinia sells the base station with either omni or sectional antenna. The sectional antenna base station may peform better.
The Junxion Box takes a PC Card and shares the connection via Ethernet or wifi. This is useful with Verizon BroadbandAccess wireless data service, and could be used to back up the primary connection.
Lumin makes a portable wifi repeater with solar cell and battery. This could be a nice package to squat on a ridgeline that has line of site between the source and destination. A backup link such as IDSL or Verizon wireless broadband would be useful as a fall back.
FCC and FAA allow towers up to 200 feet without paperwork / flashing red light. If this could provide line of sight, then it might even be possible to sell tower space to a wifi provider or Verizon. Remember to ground the tower and consider wind loads and power supply.
Consider a used tower.
Speakeasy can provide DSL, IDSL for those further away from a central office, and T1. Speakeasy has a reputation for good reliability and low ping times. They provide quotes via email by submitting a service address and service phone number.
IDSL is usually more expensive than ordinary DSL and bandwidth is about 130K. With bandwidth prioritization/shaping, this could be used for interactive command line work or as a backup link.
Bandwidth prioritization can make a small pipe feel more snappy.
Hawking sells an inexpensive appliance named Broadband Booster that can provide traffic prioritization, though it is not configurable. This would be useful if running VOIP in a home office. You can also roll your own with an old PC, linux, and bandwidth shaping software. More expensive enterprise class products are available.
For power outages, install a large UPS with a generator or solar cells. Or get a tiny (10 minute capacity) UPS with a whole house generator. A 10kW Cummins Onan generator (natural gas or propane) with automatic transfer switch is nearly $5000 (including shipping, plus installation).
This wind turbine looks interesting. This would require large UPSs for times when there is less wind.
Navini networks has some wimax deployed in the field. A base station near an internet connection pointed at the remote wimax modem can provide a connection. Craft a reflecting antenna around the back side to direct the beam. Navinia sells the base station with either omni or sectional antenna. The sectional antenna base station may peform better.
The Junxion Box takes a PC Card and shares the connection via Ethernet or wifi. This is useful with Verizon BroadbandAccess wireless data service, and could be used to back up the primary connection.
Lumin makes a portable wifi repeater with solar cell and battery. This could be a nice package to squat on a ridgeline that has line of site between the source and destination. A backup link such as IDSL or Verizon wireless broadband would be useful as a fall back.
FCC and FAA allow towers up to 200 feet without paperwork / flashing red light. If this could provide line of sight, then it might even be possible to sell tower space to a wifi provider or Verizon. Remember to ground the tower and consider wind loads and power supply.
Consider a used tower.
Speakeasy can provide DSL, IDSL for those further away from a central office, and T1. Speakeasy has a reputation for good reliability and low ping times. They provide quotes via email by submitting a service address and service phone number.
IDSL is usually more expensive than ordinary DSL and bandwidth is about 130K. With bandwidth prioritization/shaping, this could be used for interactive command line work or as a backup link.
Bandwidth prioritization can make a small pipe feel more snappy.
Hawking sells an inexpensive appliance named Broadband Booster that can provide traffic prioritization, though it is not configurable. This would be useful if running VOIP in a home office. You can also roll your own with an old PC, linux, and bandwidth shaping software. More expensive enterprise class products are available.
For power outages, install a large UPS with a generator or solar cells. Or get a tiny (10 minute capacity) UPS with a whole house generator. A 10kW Cummins Onan generator (natural gas or propane) with automatic transfer switch is nearly $5000 (including shipping, plus installation).
This wind turbine looks interesting. This would require large UPSs for times when there is less wind.
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
The Nokia 770 internet tablet is a small computer, not a phone. Coupled with a phone that supports Verizon's wireless broadband, this could a great combination for people who provide remote tech support and don't want to carry a laptop.
Google Web Publisher
Google has released a web publisher. The editor requires no knowledge of HTML, and publishes to a page name that contains the user's gmail user name.
Oracle Express
Oracle released an Express version of the 10g database. It is free to download and distribute, can run on one CPU, and can store 4GB of user data. It runs on MSWindows and Linux.
It would be great to see this run on Solaris 10, though it might be possible to run the Linux under Solaris...
It would be great to see this run on Solaris 10, though it might be possible to run the Linux under Solaris...
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Solaris x86 Hardware Compatiblity Check
Sun has a tool that will check a PC for compatibility with Solaris. The tool is delivered as an iso image to be burned onto a CD. The CD will boot and check the system.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Measuring Performance In Services by McKinsey
McKinsey Quarterly has an interesting article ,Measuring Performance In Services.
Here is a small part of the text. To do so, it is necessary to bear in mind a few essential principles of service measurement.
First, service companies need to compare themselves against their own performance rather than against poorly defined external measures. Using external benchmarks only compounds the difficulties that service companies face in getting comparable measurements from different parts of the organization.
Service companies must look deeper than their financial costs in order to discover and monitor the root causes of those expenses. This point may seem self-evident, yet many companies fail to understand these causes fully.
Finally, service companies must set up broad cost-measurement systems to report and compare all expenses across the functional silos common to service delivery organizations. The goal is to improve the service companies' grasp of the cross-functional trade-offs that must be made to rein in total costs.
None of these principles is easy to implement.
... by developing internal trees for each service line can a company begin to understand its true cost drivers. A tree allows a manager to compare the performance of different accounts against similar metrics and also to calculate which improvements will have the most impact on the top-level figure.
Here is a small part of the text. To do so, it is necessary to bear in mind a few essential principles of service measurement.
First, service companies need to compare themselves against their own performance rather than against poorly defined external measures. Using external benchmarks only compounds the difficulties that service companies face in getting comparable measurements from different parts of the organization.
Service companies must look deeper than their financial costs in order to discover and monitor the root causes of those expenses. This point may seem self-evident, yet many companies fail to understand these causes fully.
Finally, service companies must set up broad cost-measurement systems to report and compare all expenses across the functional silos common to service delivery organizations. The goal is to improve the service companies' grasp of the cross-functional trade-offs that must be made to rein in total costs.
None of these principles is easy to implement.
... by developing internal trees for each service line can a company begin to understand its true cost drivers. A tree allows a manager to compare the performance of different accounts against similar metrics and also to calculate which improvements will have the most impact on the top-level figure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)