August 2011 - TBL Networks

Hurricane Irene No Match for Collaboration Technologies

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Patrick Tredway

As you may have seen from previous posts, TBL eats its own dog food. Even in the wake of wide spread power disruptions and communication network outages, TBL is able to continue operations and support its clients. As I write this post sitting in a local area Starbucks, I cannot help but think about what it was like, even a few short years ago, and how things have changed. In a matter of moments, I’ll be posting this article to our website; I’m able to instant message with co-workers, client and partners on Cisco Jabber; And, I can receive phone calls via Single Number Reach from our Communications Manager.

This is all in the face of nearly the entire county where I reside being without power, our corporate office being inaccessible for the day, and more than 1.2 million others throughout the area without power or communication services. So as you go about your day, raking leaves, cutting up brush, refueling your generators, or even responding to the occasional email…just stop and think for a moment – how technology has changed your life or business, and just imagine what could be possible tomorrow.

Tropical Depression Eight

Security in a Virtualized World

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Steve Glissman

For our August Lunch & Learn presentation “Security in a Virtualized World,” TBL’s virtualization expert Harley Stagner was joined by Bryan Miller of Syrinx Technologies. The speakers each brought their own unique perspectives to the subject matter, as Harley’s job is to help clients to build virtual infrastructures, and Bryan’s job is to see if he can break into them (with his clients’ permission, of course).

Harley and Bryan discussed the challenges of managing a virtualized infrastructure while maintaining system security. Focus areas included patching issues and best practices for auditing and hardening your system. In addition, Harley and Bryan covered vulnerabilities that are germane to virtualized environments, while also reviewing the newest compliance guidelines.

To conclude, Harley and Bryan provided a live demonstration of vMotion, and explained how it can be infiltrated. Bryan demonstrated how during a typical vMotion session information could be easily exposed without taking security measures.

A big TBL “Thank You” to all those who attended for sessions in Virginia Beach and Richmond in August. In September, TBL Networks is participating in two very exciting events. On Wednesday, September 14, TBL is hosting an exclusive Lunch & Learn in Virginia Beach entitled “Cisco Collaboration Meets Virtualization.” This presentation will be lead by TBL Networks’ CCIE and Collaboration Practice Lead Engineer Patrick Tredway. For our Richmond readers, please join us at RichTech’s Annual TechLinks Golf Tournament on Monday, September 12th. TBL Network is serving as a Reception Sponsor for this event, and we look forward to meeting everyone in the technology field in Central Virginia for a great day of golf and socializing.

>>>>>

For more information on Bryan Miller and Syrinx Technologies, please to http://www.syrinxtech.com

September TBL Lunch & Learn – Cisco Collaboration Meets Virtualization

Posted on August 26, 2011 by Steve Glissman

Join us for lunch to learn more about how how Cisco Collaboration suite integrates with your virtualized infrastructure. TBL’s Patrick Tredway will lead the discussion and allow you the chance to ask questions. PLUS, NO POWERPOINT PRESENTATION!

LOCATION/DATE

Virginia Beach, VA – September 14th- Ruth’s Chris

Click here to attend our August Lunch & Learn

Agenda
11:30 AM – Registration
11:35 AM – Order Lunch
12:00 PM – Discussion with Patrick
1:30 PM – Event Close

Topics:

Migration Path to Virtualized Voice
Requirements to Virtualize
QoS in a Virtualized Environment
Benefits of Virtualized Voice
Breaking the Pizza Box Server Model

Who should attend:
Anyone interested in collaboration and how it affects your virtualized IT infrastructure.

Maximum four attendees per organization.

About Patrick

Patrick Tredway is TBL’s Collaboration Practice Lead and Account Engineer. He is a CCIE Voice certified engineer and has been working with Cisco Unified Communications since 2002. In addition, Patrick is co-owner of TBL Networks and a fully licensed pilot.

About TBL

TBL Networks, Cisco Gold Certified Partner and certified VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider partner, provides our customers a wide range of advanced technology solutions, with a focus on Unified Communications, Virtualization and Storage.

TBL No. 406 on the Inc. 500

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Alan Sears

Richmond, VA, August 23, 2011 – Inc. magazine today ranked TBL Networks, Inc. number 406 on its 30th annual Inc. 500, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. TBL Networks is the only company in Central Virginia from the IT Services group to make the Inc. 500, and ranked 34th overall in IT Services.

TBL Networks is a major source of expertise for the technology sector in Central Virginia. In 2010, TBL Networks was named Collaboration Partner of the Year for Cisco’s East Area as well as RichTech’s Emerging Company of the Year. Recently, TBL Networks was included on CRN’s Next-Gen 250 channel partner list. TBL Networks is the only technology integrator in Virginia with five Cisco Voice CCIEs, employs the state’s only VMware VCDX, and had two engineers recognized as 2011 VMware vExperts.

TBL Networks has experienced remarkable expansion in the marketplace, with a three-year sales growth of 836% that earned them their ranking with Inc. “It is a tremendous honor for TBL Networks to be listed on the Inc. 500,” said TBL President and CEO Alan Sears. “This award is a testament to the hard work and expertise of our staff. Their commitment to providing outstanding customer service to our clients is a major component of our success.”

The 2011 Inc. 500 is unveiled in the September issue of Inc., available on newsstands beginning August 23. TBL Networks is profiled in the magazine and online at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/tbl-networks.

About Inc. Magazine
Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 710,106, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at www.inc.com.

About TBL Networks, Inc.
TBL Networks is about moving forward with innovative technology. With over 60 years of combined technical expertise, we empower clients’ collaboration, virtualization and data centers to do more with less. TBL delivers these advanced solutions directly where it counts the most – the desktop. Building secure and reliable solutions that introduce efficiencies in human interaction is how we see the future. Let us take you there at http://www.theblinkylight.com.

TBL on CRN’s Next-Gen 250

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Alan Sears

Richmond, VA, August 22, 2011 – TBL Networks, a leading provider of advanced technology solutions, today announced Everything Channel has named the company to the first ever 2011 CRN Next-Gen 250 list. The CRN Next-Gen 250 is an annual listing of innovative and nimble business and technology integrators, solution providers, and resellers in North America offering solutions and services in cloud computing, mobility, unified communications, virtualization and other emerging technologies.

TBL Networks is a major source of expertise for the technology sector in Central Virginia. In 2010, TBL Networks was named Collaboration Partner of the Year for Cisco’s East Area as well as RichTech’s Emerging Company of the Year. Recently, TBL Networks was ranked 406 on the 2011 Inc. 500 list. TBL Networks is the only technology integrator in Virginia with five Cisco Voice CCIEs, employs the state’s only VMware VCDX, and had two engineers recognized as 2011 VMware vExperts.

The CRN Next-Generation 250 list is comprised of the most exciting new solution provider organizations (founded 2000-2011) bringing new and emerging implementation ideas and business models to the market. To view a sample of the listing, visit http://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/231500383/channel-up-and-comers-crns-next-gen-250.htm.

“In today’s competitive environment solution providers have to do more than just talk about innovation. The ability to quickly implement new processes, models and technologies is what drives margins and the bottom line,” said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. “The CRN Next-gen 250 highlights the most interesting new solution providers who are demonstrating such innovation and uncovers the new techniques and technologies that are driving their success.”

About Everything Channel
Everything Channel is the premier provider of IT channel-focused events, media, research, consulting, and sales and marketing services. With over 30 years of experience and engagement, Everything Channel has the unmatched channel expertise to execute integrated solutions for technology executives managing partner recruitment, enablement and go-to-market strategy in order to accelerate technology sales. Everything Channel is a UBM company. To learn more about Everything Channel, visit us at http://www.everythingchannel.com. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/everythingchnl.

Virtualization Deployment Automation with vSphere 5

Posted on August 22, 2011February 11, 2019 by admin

I recently spoke at a lunch and learn event about “Security in a Virtualized World”. If one thing was made abundantly clear during the discussion, it was the fact that securing a virtual infrastructure is more complicated than securing a physical infrastructure. There are many moving parts to consider along with the hypervisor itself. For many years, I have been discussing the need for automation with my clients. It makes the infrastructure much easier to manage and from a security standpoint it helps to ensure that build policies are consistent for all of the virtual hosts in the infrastructure.

There have always been tools to automate a vSphere infrastructure ranging from Perl scripts to PowerCLI. With the release of vSphere 5 automation is becoming more and more a reality. When you think about automating a VMware infrastructure, you may think about writing scripts to perform certain tasks or spending hours on the “perfect” ESX build that can be deployed through automation. Scripts are still available and in some cases necessary for automation. However, with vSphere 5 we are beginning to see an “automation-friendly” environment built into the management tools that are given to us from VMware.

ESXi: Built for Automation

One of the most important aspects of maintaining a consistent environment starts with the hypervisor deployment itself. ESXi is the official hypervisor that will be deployed in vSphere environments moving forward. It has come a long way since Virtual Infrastructure 3. vSphere 4.1 saw the release of official LDAP authentication integration. This means that you can authenticate to your ESXi hosts using Active Directory. The vSphere CLI and vMA have many more commands available now. Also, PowerCLI is more feature rich with more cmdlets than ever before. Probably the most significant aspect of ESXi that makes it built for automation is its footprint on disk. Since ESXi only takes up a few hundred Megabytes on disk, it is easy to deploy from the network. While that would make it possible to install a common ESXi image across the infrastructure, vSphere 5 takes this one step further.

vSphere 5 Auto Deploy

Auto Deploy is a new deployment method in vSphere 5. This deployment method allows you to PXE-boot the ESXi hosts from the network, load a common image, and apply configuration settings after the image is loaded via vCenter Host Profiles. The idea is to maintain a consistent deployment throughout the infrastructure by eliminating human error. With this method, ESXi has literally zero disk footprint as the image is loaded into the memory of the host. The hosts become truly stateless and are decoupled from any underlying storage dependency. In other words, the host images are disposable. The hypervisor becomes just another part of the infrastructure, disappearing into the background like it should. After all, the virtual machines themselves run the applications. They are the real stars of the show. The system administrators should not have to think about maintaining the hypervisor itself. Let the infrastructure work for you instead of you working for the infrastructure.

Consistency is the key to any stable, secure infrastructure. An infrastructure component as important as the hypervisor should have a consistent, repeatable deployment that introduces as little human intervention as possible. vSphere 5 Auto Deploy makes this possible. You still have to do the work up front to ensure the hypervisor image is built properly. After that, you can let the hypervisor fade into the background and do what it does best. It can provide the best platform for running the applications that run your business.

Reach Out and Touch Someone

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Alan Sears

TBL made its first inter-company Cisco TelePresence call this past week. After provisioning a new MPLS circuit from Masergy, we gained access to the British Telecom node of the Global Video Exchange (GVE). Our inaugural call was to who else but our local Cisco office, and of course, the call was every bit as perfect as the ones we make to our other unit down the hall. Masergy has a great product with their variable rate DS3 offering, which allows end customers to adjust the amount of bandwidth they have provisioned (and thus are charged for) through a web portal. Need a little more bandwidth over the next 24 hours for that video conference or big backup? No problem.

But what really struck me about the TelePresence call is that I was communicating from my office to one of another company’s over a public network that wasn’t the Internet. Most of us are familiar with reaching out and touching someone over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), but today most IP communications are forced to travel over the Internet to make it from company to another. And while the Internet has been the great equalizer in connecting the planet, it carries all kinds of traffic with equal treatment – which can be detrimental to real time media like video. But there I was, face to face with my friends in the Cisco office in all their 1080p-high-definition-100%-life-size-spacial-wideband-audio glory, and our packets were traveling over a purpose-built, packetized IP, quality of service enabled, public network specifically for connecting companies with Cisco TelePresence units. And all I did was dial a phone number – talk about reaching out and touching someone. And then it hit me: I am going to witness the death of the PSTN in my lifetime.

Sorry Alexander Graham Bell – it’s been a great run, but 135+ years after asking Mr. Watson to come there, voice alone over a copper circuit just isn’t good enough anymore. Yes, the public network of circuit-switched copper wires that connect us all together and provide that comforting and all too familiar hum of dial tone will go silent one day. Most of us are communicating over IP networks for voice and video today already, as are most businesses intra-company. But we are all dependent on the PSTN to reliably connect us together externally… until now. Cisco, AT&T, British Telecom, and Tata have connected themselves together to form the Global Video Exchange (GVE), and offer this packet IP network to clients who wish to communicate together – much like the PSTN of old. Consider the GVE the new PPTN (Public Packetized TelePresence Network), and the harbinger of a new global, public network for inter-entity rich media communications. If Ma Bell could only see us now!

TBL Is Cisco Gold Certified

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Alan Sears

Cisco Recognizes TBL Networks as a Gold Certified Partner

Richmond, VA (August 18th, 2011) – Cisco announced today that TBL Networks, Inc. has met the requirements and criteria necessary to earn the designation of Cisco Gold Certified Partner, the pinnacle partner certification available from Cisco.

Cisco Gold Certified Partners demonstrate the highest level of expertise with a minimum of four Cisco Voice Certified Internetwork Experts (CCIEs) on staff, and have achieved the highest level of credibility with a comprehensive range of expertise by achieving the four Cisco Advanced Specializations in Unified Communications, Routing and Switching, Security, and Wireless LAN. They have also integrated the deepest level of Cisco Lifecycle Services proficiency into their offerings and demonstrate a measurably high level of customer satisfaction.

“TBL Networks is extremely proud to be recognized as a Cisco Gold Partner, “said Alan Sears, President and CEO of TBL Networks, Inc. “This certification not only recognizes our success in offering the best technology with the most talented expertise in Central Virginia, but also recognizes our commitment to providing our clients with outstanding customer service.”

TBL Networks is the only Cisco Partner in the Commonwealth of Virginia with five Cisco Voice CCIEs, and holds all six Advanced Specializations that are available from Cisco.

About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About TBL Networks, Inc.
TBL Networks provides a wide range of advanced technology solutions to clients. At TBL Networks, unparalleled service and support is our number one priority. With over 35 years of combined experience in Unified Communications, TBL is the number one provider for Cisco of their Unified Communications solutions for the Commercial market in Virginia. TBL’s Solutions Engineers have personally installed over 30,000 Cisco IP Phones and deployed over 2,700 Cisco Call Center Seats in customer networks around the world. For company information, please visit http://www.theblinkylight.com.

Five Reasons to Attend the RichTech Golf Tournament

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Steve Glissman

On Monday, September 12^th, RichTech will host its annual TechLinks Golf Tournament. TBL Networks is honored to serve as a Reception Sponsor for this event. Despite the fact that golf is not one of my strengths, I am very excited about the chance to participate and spend time with fellow members of the technology community.

Here are five reasons you should attend the RichTech TechLinks Golf Tournament

1) The course

TheTechLinks tournament is hosted at the Hermitage Country Club Founded in 1900, Hermitage is the second oldest club in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At my skill level, I am planning on spending a good deal of time searching for my ball in the woods. On the plus side, I have the opportunity to find the second oldest golf ball in Virginia.

2) Goodie Bags for all participants

Enough said.

3) Play golf on a Monday

In this contentious age, there are few things upon which we can universally agree. However, one truth is indisputable – Mondays stink.

Instead of dragging yourself into work for coffee and listening to THIS co-worker, you can enjoy the late summer weather on a beautiful private course while playing golf. At TechLinks Golf Tournament, you will have best of Monday of your year.

4) Make Caddyshack References

Making Caddyshack references is not always appropriate in the workplace, but it is always acceptable at the golf course. Have you signed up yet? Well …

5) Meet your peers

Serving over 300 companies and more than 3,000 people, RichTech today is the premier technology association in the Greater Richmond and Central Virginia area. The TechLinks Golf Tournament provides the chance for you to meet your peers in technology field while playing golf at a great course. What more could you ask for?

To learn more about RichTech and to become a contributing member of Central Virginia’s technology community, go to www.RichTech.com.

To purchase your tickets for RichTech’s Annual TechLinks Golf Tournament, click on this link.

New Features in Attendant Console 8.5/8.6

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Patrick Tredway

I typically refrain from blogging product update news, but that’s really more of a guideline than a rule. Specifically, there have been some recent changes to the attendant console product line from Cisco (ARC OEM) that look to bridge the feature gap between it and the legacy attendant console as well as quell some concerns a number of other areas.

Most notable of these changes are:

1) Session based licensing – Better known as concurrent user licensing, this change brings the attendant console product line back in line with most other Cisco collaboration products. This has long been asked for and well most certainly ease budget concerns for customers who have a number of people who could be managing a call queue at any one time.

2) Forced Delivery – This feature will have the attendants phone actually ring in lieu of the previous behavior of the console ringing first and the call being delivered to the IP phone after accepting the call. When compared to the legacy attendant console package, this behavior generates most of the complaints regarding difference in functionality.

3) Personal Directory Groups – Yet another feature that has been sorely missed for users who grew up on the legacy attendant console.

To round out the list, some other enhancements included in this release are music in queue, wait time overflow, and some additional search functionality, UC on UCS certification.