The MegaPath Connectivity Blog

Mastering the Triple Play

I grew up in Maryland, and when I was a kid my baseball hero was Brooks Robinson.  Nobody could turn a ball around faster than he could, and I know I will never forget 1973, when “The Human Vacuum Cleaner” started not one, but two triple plays that season.    That gave him a trio of triple plays for his career, 3 of the 679 all time triple plays. When I look for inspiration when it comes to executing a triple play, I look to Brooks Robinson.  (I am not going to mention that he also hit into a record 4 triple plays in his career).

As it turns out, I didn’t end up being a ball player.  Instead, my chance to make ‘triple plays’ came in communications,  providing a trio of voice, data and security solutions to our customers.   And I’m proud to say that we are recognized as having mastery skills at providing these managed services.

More small businesses than ever are achieving increased efficiencies while lowering costs by using managed voice, data and security services.   Economic realities, IT staff & budget compression, and increased service expectations from users — whether you’re in a small business or a distributed enterprise — have really created the perfect storm for greater reliance on a managed services provider for voice, data, and security.   The benefits of doing so include the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your services are being monitored 24-7-365 by experienced experts, as well as knowing that well defined Service Level Assurances (SLAs) are standing behind the network services you rely on.  But most importantly, partnering with a Master Managed Service Provider will help your business prosper.

Having a single point of contact for these three services will lower your support costs, while using outsourced expertise will allow you to mitigate the costs of building out management and reporting capabilities that are not core to your business.  You can focus on implementing the best practices of your business, knowing that we are following the best practices of our industry.

MegaPath is one of only a handful of Cisco Managed Services Channel Partners to receive the Master designation.  To achieve this, Cisco made an extensive audit of our NOC  capabilities, checked out our SLAs, and verified that we have both CCIE and ITIL certified team members.  At the end of this process, Cisco said we not only qualified for the Master designation, but that both our MPLS VPN Service and Managed IP Trunking VoIP product qualified for the Cisco Powered designation.

Recently Cisco did a case study of MegaPath (pdf), and put the spotlight on how we work together as an example of the benefits that can be achieved by gaining this designation.  Of course, the real benefit of this goes to our customers, who have come to rely on us for mission critical triple play solutions.

And yes, I know that Donie Bush shares the record with Bid McPhee for turning 9 triple plays, but I never spent summer nights as a kid listening to them play games at Memorial Stadium with Boog Powell, Jim Palmer, Frank Robinson and Earl Weaver on my transistor radio.

4 MPLS Sessions Focused on Future-Proofing the Network for Performance and Reliability

With all the talk about MPLS networks, cloud-based computing, and voice-data convergence trends, we thought the ITEXPO show in Miami was an ideal place to address the complexity but real benefit of MPLS in network traffic engineering. We asked the question “got mpls?” and plenty of people packed 4 sessions at MegaPath University to learn more.

• MPLS 101:  What is an MPLS VPN? How does it work? What are the business drivers for migrating to an MPLS network? How do class of service and quality of service considerations pertain to network traffic engineering decisions and application prioritization?
• Making Sense of the VPN Alphabet Soup – MPLS, SSL, IP Sec … Technical and non-technical attendees appreciated the short but valuable time investment in VPN key terms, and the advantages/disadvantages of these technologies.
• Putting the Quality Back into Voice: Voice over MPLS + QoS:  Delivering business-critical applications like voice, video, web/email and POS are dependent on several network decisions, including quality of service, class of service, and bandwidth calculation. MegaPath data prioritization experts helped lead this discussion about ensuring the performance of MPLS solutions.

And finally:

• Selling MPLS + Voice into the Distributed Enterprise:  Cloud-based communications are trends that can’t be ignored. With cloud computing comes the move to consolidate security and telecom solutions. Our discussion today dug into a deeper understanding of how to combine voice, data, MPLS and managed security into a single, cost-effective solution that has reliability and scalability benefits  for organizations of all sizes and industries.

Look for the next MegaPath University at the Channel Partners Show in Las Vegas, March 1-3. Class registrations will be opening soon, so check back for details.

To learn more about How MPLS Works, check out this 3 minute demonstration.

Enterprises and SMBs today face many of the same issues, and one of the biggest issues they both face  is making sure business communications are safe and secure.  With the increase in mobile workforces, and with more customers and partners wanting to do business online, VPNs need to be scalable, flexible and manageable.  Also, the people who need access to your business network need it from wherever they are, on whatever device they have available.  Luckily, SSL VPNs are a solution that can meat all of the above requirements.  Here are several reasons you should consider SSL VPNs as a solution for keeping your business better connected.

• Reduced Costs - Web based access that doesn’t require a preloaded software client on the desktop will reduce desktop support costs. The ease of use factor will also cut down on calls to your Help Desk.
• Increased Flexibility – SSL VPNs allow anyone to connect to any network resource at any time, using any device.  All you need is a web browser and an Internet connection.
• Granular Control – SSL VPNs secure the person, not the device.  Customers,  Business Partners, Road Warriors, Flexecutives and Telecommuters can all be granted access to the specific network resources they need, and this access can also be finely tuned to allow certain levels of access control based upon how they are communicating with the network.
• Eased Administration – When you work with the right partner, your SSL VPN platform will be managed by security professionals who are available 24/7/365, and who are ready to offer assistance as needed anywhere around the globe.
• Increased Protection – SSL VPNs can be delivered as part of a security platform that can also protect against viruses, worms, spyware and malware.  Just make sure your SSL VPN partner is ready to deliver this level of security.
• Remote Connectivity – SSL VPNs are ready built to handle remote access by definition.  This remote connectivity can be occurring at an airport on a Blackberry,  using a public WiFi hot spot via a laptop, or at a client’s office on a borrowed PC. 
• Business Continuity- Natural disasters, bad weather, and technologies outages do sometimes occur.  Giving the people you need to communicate with access to an SSL VPN can help you mitigate the effects of such occurrences on your business, and help you avoid business disruptions.

SSL VPNs offer your business the opportunity to lower costs, increase security and be ready for anything.  Maybe most importantly, your users will love it.  I’ve been using VPNs for years, and I know that I’m glad to not have to deal with the IPSec clients anymore (one on each PC, Mac or Linux box I use), and to know that now I can check in wherever I happen to be.  I bet your users will appreciate this flexibility, too.

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.