The MegaPath Connectivity Blog

As promised in my post yesterday, I’m pleased to introduce the Connectivity community today to Diane Giuffre, Voice Product Manager here at MegaPath, and a welcome new voice for voice over MPLS solutions. You’ll be hearing regularly from Diane as she takes voice-related questions from you, and helps to develop a deeper discussion about a key focus area for voice solutions at MegaPath: putting the quality back in voice. But first, you need to know a little something about Diane’s background and her tenure in voice communications.

Diane has 25 years experience in telecommunications, 17 of which was spent at MCI Communications.  She spent the first 10 years in voice network engineering, and then made the switch to marketing.  Diane’s product management focus has been on products like voice conferencing, collaboration, unified communications, and VoIP.  Her first introduction to VoIP was in 2004, when MCI rolled out its VoIP audio conferencing product. Subsequent to MCI, Diane worked for a hosted IP PBX company, working on introducing new features.

Fast forward to late 2009 when Diane joined MegaPath and jumped right into the thick of the development process of bringing our latest voice and data service, Duet(SM) Hosted Voice, to market. By now you may have seen yesterday’s announcement on our hosted business voip service, so indeed, Diane’s timing for joining the voice product team could not have been better. On Paul Marra, VP Voice Products’ team, Diane helped to develop what is unique about Duet Hosted. Officially described as a complete, cost-effective hosted IP PBX solution that gives businesses a feature-rich and scalable alternative to traditional phone service and expensive equipment, Duet Hosted is also the industry’s first true, national, Voice over MPLS solution. It’s because of the MegaPath network – the largest broadband reach of any network in North America, and the broadest Quality of Service (QoS)-enabled voice network – that Diane, Paul, and the rest of the voice team can confidently offer any size organization an enterprise-level hosted voice experience. I’m looking forward to the opportunities in this forum to spend some time talking about putting the quality back into voice. I’m also interested in learning more from Diane as she addresses call quality and secure call delivery issues that happen when mission-critical voice services are exposed to the public internet. Priority issue #1: dynamic bandwidth allocation. If you’re a network engineer, that’s an issue near and dear to you. You’re in the right place.

If you have hosted VoIP, integrated voice and data (managed voice services), or QoS questions for Diane, go ahead and submit a comment and she’ll be glad to address them. Stop back soon for regular voice posts from Diane, and feel free to share what you learn.

Ask the Voice Expert, Diane Giuffre

5 Minutes with Tommy Triplett of Rumbi Island Grill

Is there anything better than a good story? Tommy Triplett was kind enough to tell his story by sharing this video of his customer experience.

For people like us here at MegaPath, where we’re managing network access, voice, and security services to literally thousands of customers in all industries, and solving a very diverse range of network connectivity-based problems for them, we hear customer stories all the time. And that’s great because we just never tire of them. Learning how we helped a customer address their big IT priorities and meet some interesting challenges is the kind of insight that drives us. It’s equally important when we can get a glimpse of typical day-in-the-life stuff that really does matter to our customers.

Watch Tommy describe how MegaPath is helping Rumbi Island Grill, an aggressively expanding Hawaiian restaurant group, put connectivity to work in its 22 locations across Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Their fun, innovative dining experience is well-served by MegaPath MPLS virtual private network (VPN) , Managed Security, and PCI compliance services. Tommy leads the IT project management team. He was challenged by rolling out new restaurants, but without a cookie-cutter approach to site specs, network user needs and broadband access services. He needed the best-fit type of flexible approach that MegaPath provides in our site-to-site MPLS VPN solutions. We’re helping Rumbi Island Grill to protect their network assets and customer credit card transactions, plus putting access to system status into the hands of Tommy’s team through a customer portal that they “just love”.

Tommy tells their story best, so please watch Success at Rumbi Island Grill.

For more information about how MegaPath ensures PCI compliance for restaurants and retailers like Rumbi Island Grill, start here.

It can be argued that MPLS has been one of the most successful standards to come out of the IETF.  It has been very widely deployed by business around the globe, in both small and large networks.  If your business hasn’t yet leveraged MPLS, its really time you considered doing so.  Here are the 7 Reasons to Deploy MPLS In Your Business Network which you can reference when making your decision:

1. MPLS Scales – MPLS has been shown to work wonderfully for small businesses with just a few locations as well as in large business enterprise networks consisting of thousands and thousands of sites.
2. MPLS Is Flexible – MPLS is flexible by design, with separate control and data planes.  MPLS has also proven to be very adaptable, allowing new technologies and features to be implemented over existing networks.
3. MPLS Is Neutral – Private Line, ATM, Frame Relay, DSL or Ethernet, it doesn’t matter.  MPLS was designed to handle the multiprotocol nature of current networks, and does so with grace.
4. MPLS Is Great For VPNs – MPLS has proven to be very adaptable and secure, and this has allowed many businesses to realize better performance while protecting their data.
5. MPLS Lowers Costs – If you are still trying to manage your business connectivity without using MPLS, there is good news: moving to an MPLS network will allow you to improve your communication services while lowering costs.
6. MPLS Is Great With VoIP – It’s a marriage made in heaven.  Seriously, Voice over MPLS allows you to put the quality back into voice, so that you, your partners and your customers can communicate clearly with each other.
7. MPLS Is Great For Business – Whether you run a small business or large enterprise, MPLS is a proven technology that is ready to help your business improve its bottom line.

So make 2010 the year your business turned to an MPLS expert, and increased productivity and network survivability while lowering the total cost of ownership of your network.

As the year is coming to a close, I can look back over the last 12 months and can see that it has been a great year for MegaPath.  Back in September, we were again placed on the Inc. 5000, the magazine’s list of the fastest growing private companies in the US.  MegaPath took position 1,146 on the list this year, making a showing for the third consecutive year.

 Then, in November, we were placed on the 2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (PDF), in position 364.  Deloitte’s list ranks the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America based on percentage revenue growth over a five-year period. 

Early in the summer of 2009, MegaPath was named to the VAR500 for the sixth consecutive year by Everything Channel, as they recognized we are one of North America’s top technology integrators.   MegaPath’s Channel Partner Program includes many of the industry’s leading VARs and integrators who are certified to offer the company’s leading connectivity, security and VoIP services. On a related note, back in October Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Dan Foster was selected to the PHONE+ magazine and Channel Partners Conference & Expo joint 2009-2010 advisory board. And in November we announced the creation of its Channel Partner Advisory Council to foster communication between the company and our valued channel partners.

Just recently, MegaPath learned that we have received Cisco® Managed Services Master certification, building on the Cisco® Powered designation in Managed Connectivity we announced back in February .  Achieving this designation required significant investment in our NOC and engineering team, with CCIE® and ITIL® professionals on staff, supporting our managed solutions at all phases:  preparing, planning, designing, implementing, operating, and optimizing. 

It was also a great year on the product front at MegaPath.  Back in June, Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) named MegaPath’s Managed Security Services a recipient of a 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award.  Also in June, we announced we had added our 300,000th SSL user.  In January we were pleased to learn our Duet™ voice and data service had received the 2008 Product of the Year award from INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine for the second time in a row.  We also expanded our footprint of Ethernet services this year, and brought additional connectivity options online for our customers.  We’ve been busy!

Well, looking back has been fun, but we’ve got our eye on the ball, and we’re focused on bringing your business the best voice, data and security solutions again next year. More than 20,000 business customers out there are expecting the most of us, and we are going to continue to deliver!

We wish you a Happy Holiday, and every success in 2010!

With the end of the year coming up fast, it seems like it is a good time to take a look at what 2010 has in store for us.  Several trends in business connectivity have developed over the last year, and will continue to further evolve in 2010.  Here is a list of 10 topics you should take into consideration as you do your planning for next year.

SIP Trunking - VoIP really exploded this year, due both to the increased functionality and the cost savings it offered to so many companies.   In 2010, combining SIP trunking with MPLS and security is going to really take off.

Managed Security - Everyone knows that security is vital in today’s business climate.  In fact, in many instances it is mandated.  More SMBs and small enterprises, who don’t necessarily have dedicated IT staff, will be outsourcing this function to a partner whose 24/7/365 NOCs will monitor and ensure that communications integrity is maintained.

Extended Workforce - Several events over the last year, including the H1N1 flu pandemic and various disasters, highlighted the need for the workforce to be able to access corporate communications from their home offices.  Telecommuting will see large scale adoption in 2010. Make sure you work with a partner who can reach your team wherever they are, and with DSL, Cable, Satellite and Wireless options.

Enterprise Social Networking - Facebook and Twitter exploded in 2009, and the communication capabilities they offer will invade the workplace in 2010.  Look for various offerings in both internal and cross-company social networking in 2010, and make sure your network has the security and connectivity necessary to meed the demands of these applications.

Cloud Computing – We’ve been hearing about this one for a while, but I expect 2010 will be the year many companies move to adopt this technology.  With Google and Microsoft both prepared with web applications, and with many companies having broadband connectivity in place, it seems like this is the year this might all come together.

Business Ethernet - Ethernet has always been a simple, high speed bandwidth option used for the LAN. In 2010, we will see large scale adoption of Business Ethernet for the WAN by SMBs and Enterprises due to the new economics that allow you to leverage these large pipes for a low cost.

Enterprise Video - Telepresence, Video Conferencing, Video Surveillance  and Video Training will all see a major push in the next year, as businesses leverage these technologies to save costs, increase revenues and keep their workforces up to speed.  It is vital that your network partner be ready with QoS enabled across many bandwidth options so you that you can be sure the video gets through loud and clear.

Extended Enterprise - People now work wherever they happen to be.  In 2010, we will see more adoption by Enterprises of systems and policies that allow people to access anyone, from any location, on any device, at any time.  Managed SSL VPNs will enable businesses to realize such a goal, while lowering costs and ensuring the security of sensitive data at all times.

Wireless Data - The application of wireless technologies to business communications will continue to grow.  For years now, businesses have leveraged wireless voice applications to great success. In 2010, we will continue to see more deployment of data applications across wireless networks, both 3G and 4G.  Wireless data technologies can enable rapid provisioning of communications to a store, offer an excellent option for backing up wireline communications, and can be used by your mobile workforce to access corporate data on devices such as Netbooks.

Payment Card Security - Securing credit card transactions will be the focus of a great deal of activity in 2010.  The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) will continue to evolve (PDF), and changes in areas like wireless networking will need to be implemented in 2010.  All levels of merchants should be working with a PCI DSS Validate Service Provider (PDF) payment card extranet partner to make sure they are ready for the changes in the coming year.