October 2011 - TBL Networks

The Importance of the Internet

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Alan Sears

In their Connected World Technology Report, Cisco surveyed 2,853 people split between college students and recently employed college graduates ages 21 to 29 in fourteen countries and asked them “How important is the Internet to you?” Cisco offered three options and asked respondents choose the best: (a) I could live without the Internet, (b) I could live without the Internet but it would be a struggle, or (c) I could not live without the Internet.

Among college students, 55% say they could not live without the Internet compared to 62% of those recent graduates with jobs. Over 30% in both categories say they could survive, but it would be a struggle. 40% of students rank the Internet as most important as compared to partying, dating, and music. 64% would rather have Internet access than a car. A big thing they rely on the Internet for is news, with 77% of students saying they get their news and other information from the Internet. TV comes in a distant fourth at 7% with newspapers, magazines and books behind that. The results are similar for the recently employed.

How is your business building an environment to support this new Internet generation of workers? Are your business apps web-ified? Can your data centers support mobile access to these applications on any device, anywhere? These will be critical components to recruiting the next top talent for your organization. Are you ready?

Local Media Processing for VDI

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Patrick Tredway

As I blogged earlier this year, there has been a rift for collaboration enabled users migrating from the traditional desktop computing model to a virtual desktop environment. Specifically many collaboration clients require some time of local media processing for either video or audio. In either case, when the desktop is moved to a centralized datacenter and is separate from the client with low speed connection, a degradation in these features can be experienced.

Now, after much anticipation, Cisco’s VXI consortium has produced a client that will solve this. Enter the VXC 6215 client.

Large Photo

Rather than being a zero client like the previous VXC 2100 and 2200 models, this client contains a local linux image that will allow for local media processing while simultaneously communicating with the upstream VDI infrastructure, whether it be Citrix or VMware View.

Out of the gate this thing will support video termination with Cisco Unified Personal Communicator or any of the Cisco Client Services Framework integrations with Microsoft Lync. Initial protocol support will include RDP7, ICA Agent 11+, XenDesktop 4.x,5.x, and PCoIP compatibility with VMware View 5.x.

This product announcement finally lets us realize what VXI is meant to be. Product availability Q4CY2011 to Q1CY2012.

Sesame Street, Captain Kirk and the Post-PC Era

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Steve Glissman

Whether we like it or not, we are living in the Post-PC Era. Evidence abounds everywhere. This past week, Cisco announced their new Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI). You might have read about this release on your iPhone as you waited in line for the newest model. Perhaps you read it on your tablet that is VDI ready by VMware.

In light of the recent passing of Steve Jobs, I have found myself looking both forward and backward at technology. New advances in video technology, collaboration and mobile computing demonstrate that the future is now, and that future means moving away from the restrictions of the PC Era. At the same time, I find myself looking back at where we have come from.

I found two great examples below to give perspective in where we have advanced in the last thirty years. Good bye PC Era. It’s been a good ride.

TBL CEO in Top 40 Under 40

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Steve Glissman

Alan Sears named to prestigious list of leaders in Richmond

Richmond, VA, October 19, 2011 – TBL Networks today announced that Style Weekly has named Alan Sears to their 2011 Top 40 Under 40. The Style Weekly Top 40 Under 40 is an annual list of men and women under the age of 40 who seek to make change and serve the community of Richmond, Virginia.

“On behalf of TBL Networks, I am honored to be named to the Top 40 Under 40,” said Alan Sears, President and CEO of TBL Networks, Inc. “This distinction reflects TBL’s commitment to bring the best information technology solutions to small and medium businesses, while never forgetting the importance of customer service and community.”

In naming Alan Sears to the 2011 class, Style Weekly discussed his professional successes at TBL Networks, including earning a spot the on 2011 Inc. 500 list and being named to CRN magazine’s Next-Gen 250. In addition, the magazine mentioned his pursuit of techumanity, the positive synergy between technology and humanity. TBL lives this this ideal by working with the international World Community Grid for cancer research and local charity CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation , which supports families with children facing chronic and life threatening illness.

TBL Networks is the only technology integrator in the Commonwealth of Virginia with five Cisco Voice CCIEs, employs the Central Virginia’s only VMware VCDX, and has two engineers recognized as 2011 VMware vExperts.

“In a city that sometimes seems obsessed with trading business cards and sidling up to the right crowd, or organizing new events for more trading and sidling, the talking can overshadow the action,” said Style Weekly editor Jason Roop. “Some of them are used to making headlines, while others’ efforts are quietly rendered. But they all offer stories that inspire — and perhaps serve as a call to action.”

The Style Weekly Top 40 Under 40 list is comprised of men and women who lead inspire and serve Richmond. You can view the entire list in their October 19, 2011 issue or online at http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/top-40-under-40-2011/Content?oid=1623711.

About Style Weekly
Style Weekly is Richmond Virginia’s alternative for news, arts culture and opinion. For nearly 30 years, Style Weekly has been a significant part of the Greater Richmond community through its journalism, community involvement and business presence. Learn more at http://www.styleweekly.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.

The Anywhere Office

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Alan Sears

I have often said that “work is not a place, work is where you are” to depict the ever changing workplace infused with mobile devices and new definitions of work-life balance. Most professionals today do not sit behind a desk from 8 to 5, but are out and about, taking meetings, making calls, or taking the kids to soccer practice. Whether it be in the parking lot of your next appointment or the sideline of a little league game, mobile devices today mean we are always connected and always a finger’s tap away from work. However, I recently saw the statistic that by 2013, 75.5% of workers in the United States will be mobile. Now while many of them will still have a desk in an office somewhere, this will also mean an increase in teleworkers as well. It’s no surprise that employees prefer to work from home, but technology is allowing more employers to be comfortable with teleworker as they are connected to them no differently as if they were in the office down the hall. Being able to see their productivity instantly, not to mention the increased work output from employees that don’t have to commute, is making many employers more open to allowing employees to work from home.

This increasing benefit for employees will mean a recruiting advantage for companies that are more developed in their teleworking policies. As the Internet generation of young adults enter the workforce, workplace mobility will undoubtedly be a key factor in their employment decisions. Are you preparing your business for the Anywhere Office? Morning staple to many, Starbucks Coffee is with a home-delivery bean subscription service. Now your employee truly doesn’t need to leave the home.

Back to the Basics with Virtualization Capacity Planning

Posted on October 17, 2011February 11, 2019 by admin

To be sure, there are plenty of new features to get excited about in vSphere 5.0. VMware has come a long way since 2002, when I first started using the technology. Often in the technology world, practitioners get excited about learning and implementing new technology without planning properly. They want to implement as fast as possible to bring about the benefits and innovation that the new technology has to offer. I believe that we have all been guilty of this at one point. So, this post is to remind all technology practitioners to take a step back and think about proper planning when implementing new technology projects. One of the basic tasks that should be done at the beginning of any virtualization design is capacity planning.

My role at TBL allows me to examine many virtual infrastructures. One of the common challenges that I see in many of these infrastructures is resource allocation after they have been running for a while. Workloads were virtualized quickly without proper capacity planning and by the team I am called in to assess the infrastructure, resources are strained in the environment. This point may come quickly if proper capacity planning is not performed up front. However, ongoing capacity planning must be performed periodically as moves, adds, and changes occur in the virtual infrastructure. Below are a few general recommendations for proper capacity planning:

Plan for performance, then capacity for production workloads – I have seen the opposite happen too many times to count. The storage capacity is planned for, but not the storage performance. Look at all workloads that will be virtualized. Measure the peak IOPS that will be required. Plan to fulfill the IOPS requirements, then add disks if necessary to meet the capacity requirements. This general approach will ensure a solid performance foundation.
Plan for peaks, not just averages – If you plan for averages, the environment may run OK until a performance spike is encountered. Then, performance may suffer for a critical workload. Think about things like month-end processing, student enrollment, or sales peaks. These times are when the environment needs the resources the most. Plan for the peaks accordingly.
Don’t forget about overhead – In a virtual infrastructure, there are some files and associated overhead required by the system to run the virtual workloads. These files may not seem like much by themselves, but in aggregate, they can add up to a lot. An example of something to plan for might be virtual machine swap files. In a vSphere infrastructure the virtual machine swap file size is the difference between the assigned memory and reserved memory for a virtual machine.

Ongoing capacity planning is needed as well to maintain a virtual infrastructure. This is where tools like vCenter Capacity IQ can help. Capacity IQ is capable of performing ongoing capacity planning, reporting, what-if scenarios and more. For example, if you want to see at what point you need to add more capacity in your infrastructure, Capacity IQ can model that based on your deployment patterns in the past. This is a very powerful analytic tool that can help you stay ahead of your capacity needs.

If we can plan from the beginning and utilize intelligent ongoing planning for capacity, then we can move from a reactive stance to a proactive stance while still being able to provide innovation quickly for the business. That’s a powerful combination. If you have questions about capacity planning, please feel free to contact me.

CUWL Update–WebEx Connect

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Patrick Tredway

Most reading this blog post will be quite familiar with the workspace licensing program (CUWL) Cisco introduced a few years back for its collaborative technologies. For those who are not as familiar, the introduction of the CUWL offering marked a shift in Cisco’s licensing model from counting endpoint devices, server instances, and features to a model à la Microsoft where user counts are the key metric.

This shift dramatically simplified orderability for customers and opened doors for them to deploy new services and adopt new features. Now, just like any other licensing model, CUWL is not perfect and we continually voice areas that need further attention. One such area is within the presences and instant messaging arena.

Historically your options under CUWL entitlement were restricted to premise based deployment scenarios – either the Unified Presence Server and Client (CUPS/CUPC) or entitlement to voice enable a Microsoft Office Communicator or Lync client (CUCI-MOC or CUCI-LYNC). This is all in the face of many organizations opting for a hosted solution or enterprise IM as opposed to on premise servers. WebEx Connect often chosen in a foray into hosted presence while also being owned by Cisco, it only seemed logical that Cisco create a path for WebEx Connect entitlement to make its way under the CUWL program.

Well, I’m happy to announce that as of October 17, 2011, WebEx Connect Cloud IM service is available to all new CUWL clients under both the standard and professional editions. Now the obvious next question is “what about existing clients?” – and unfortunately the details of how Cisco is going to handle that are still unclear. I’ll be sure to post commentary on that communication as soon as I receive it.

Some other notable changes to the CUWL program are:

Addition of 1:10 WebEx Meeting Center cloud port per CUWL Pro user
Option of adding named host licensing for WebEx Meeting Center
Addition to client choices including Jabber for Mac, iPhone, and Nokia

January 22, 1984

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Steve Glissman

Sunday, January 22, 1984 is known to Washington Redskins’ fans as “Black Sunday.” Following their 1983 Super Bowl triumph over the Miami Dolphins, the Redskins were heavily favored in their match up with the Black and Gray. However, the Raiders, powered by RB Marcus Allen’s legs and QB Jim Plunkett’s beautiful face, handily defeated the Redskins by a score of 38-9. (I personally blame Barry Manilow, who performed the National Anthem that night, for the loss; however, I blame Barry Manilow for a lot of things.)

Sunday, January 22, 1984 is also known for a commercial aired during the 3rd quarter of that game. On the night of the Redskins’ defeat, a company ran an advertisement which introduced their new product – a personal computer called the Macintosh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhsWzJo2sN4&feature=youtu.be

To be cliché, the advent of the personal computer was a game changer. The Macs’ innovations raised the bar of what we could expect from personal computers, and helped to distinguish Apple’s product from IBM and the PC clones.

At TBL, we use the phrase “techumanity” to describe the way technology allows people to connect in ways that are more human. Steve Jobs understood that ideal, and it was embedded in his company and products. In the coming weeks and months, Steve Jobs’ life and influence will be overanalyzed ad nauseam. To be brief, in Jobs’ passing I see the story of a man who did not accept things as they were, but saw them as they could be. And we are all better off because of it.

RIP Steven P. Jobs 1955-2011

Running a Lean Branch Office with the Cisco UCS Express

Posted on October 3, 2011February 11, 2019 by admin

Centralized management brings organizations more control over resources with fewer equipment assets in the field. There are many cases where equipment may be needed in a branch office to speed access time to a resource or eliminate the dependency on a network link to the central datacenter. It is very common to see at least one, if not multiple, servers at the branch office to provide file/print services or user authentication. Perhaps the servers are providing some service that is specialized to a particular business (banking applications come to mind here). Whatever service is being provided, sometimes it is better to maintain local access at the branch. So there are servers to maintain at the branch office, as well as networking gear and other such devices.

What if you could consolidate your branch office services with your router? That is exactly what the Cisco UCS Express is meant to do. The UCS Express is a Services-Ready Engine (SRE) module that works in Integrated Services Router Generation 2 (ISR G2) routers. This module is a server that you can run VMware ESXi on to provide branch office services. Here is an example of an ISR G2 device:

The slots you see at the bottom of the device is where the SRE UCS Express modules are located. A UCS Express module is seen below.

Here are a couple of the highlights of this architecture:

(1) or (2) 500 GB drive options are available (hot swap hard drive)
(1) or (2) Core CPU’s are available
4 or 8GB of RAM available
iSCSI Initiator Hardware offload if you need to connect to an external iSCSI device
There is direct SRE to LAN connectivity which reduces cabling
Maintenance is covered under SMARTnet

This architecture provides all that a branch office may need by virtualizing several branch office services onto the SRE UCS Express Module. The ESXi instance can be managed centrally by your existing vCenter installation. This gives you the benefits of local service access and centralized management while reducing the equipment needs at the branch office. Pretty slick.

If you would like to discuss how this architecture might be able to help your organization or want further technical details, please feel free to contact me.

The New Service Model

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Alan Sears

There is no substitute for face time with the right people. If you’re like most companies, you have a key set of employees who are experts in what they do. And the ability to maximize your client’s exposure to these individuals has a dramatic effect overall revenues and, ultimately, your bottom line.

For example: Regional banks typically have a group of highly talented loan officers or investment personnel. These experts usually have scheduled days to be at a particular branch location. As the number of branches grows, the number of times these key resources can be at a particular branch becomes severely impacted. What happens when a client prospect walks through the door and asks to see someone about refinancing a home or investing an inheritance? Telling them to “Come back on Monday” when the appropriate person will be onsite is not acceptable. As that potential business prospect leaves, you’re literally allowing money to walk out the door.

TBL has a solution. Leveraging high-definition video conferencing resources, TBL allows resources to efficiently “meet” prospects, clients and customers in a number of different locations without ever leaving his or her seat. The key to this solution’s effectiveness is the client and resources seeing each other at their actual size in high-fidelity video – we’re talking “reading the second hand on the other person’s watch” quality – providing an immersive experience akin to being in the same room together. It’s the next best thing to meeting in person. And TBL makes the next best thing possible now.