2014 - TBL Networks

A Trifecta of Cisco Partner Certifications

Posted on November 25, 2014February 6, 2019 by Alan Sears

Cisco Powered

TBL Networks has successfully landed a trifecta of Cisco Partner Certifications. Along with the renewal of our Cisco Gold Certification, we have also met all criteria to become Master Collaboration Specialized, and a Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Master Partner.

So what does this mean for you? It means that we have an extensive suite of services that can meet all your technology needs. It confirms that you can trust us to deliver, manage and support your personalized IT solution, a
nd it verifies that our Limelight Private Cloud as a Service is a system you can depend on.

TBL’s Limelight PCaaS is an original new way for organizations to consume technology, spotlighting the key benefits of both on-premise and public cloud solutions. We are bringing this unique service to market initially for its three core technologies: Limelight Collaboration for voice, video and collaboration solutions, Limelight Desktop for VDI solutions and Limelight Infrastructure for server consolidation solutions.

Cisco Gold Certified Partner

Cisco Gold Certification Partner For the third time since 2011, TBL has renewed our Gold Certification, the highest level of Partner Certification that Cisco offers. In order to be honored with this certification, you must demonstrate savvy in all technology areas of Cisco solutions.

When evaluating companies for the Gold Certification, Cisco takes a multitude of factors into consideration. Partners must meet support requirements – such as offering 24/7 customer service – as well as complete surveys that verify customer satisfaction is being achieved.

There are currently only 159 Cisco Gold Partners in the United States and we are proud to have been one of them, year after year.

Master Collaboration Specialized

Cisco Master Collaboration Partner Specialization in Cisco collaboration solutions means that we have demonstrated mastery of Voice, Video and Contact Center solutions. Right now, only 79 partners in the United States can say that they are Master Collaboration Specialized.

To gain this title, TBL showed that we are skillful in a variety of communications technologies, including call processing, messaging, and conferencing. In addition, Cisco also requires that companies complete a live audit and submit 5 complex customer references.

Master Cloud and Managed Service Provider

Cisco Master Services Partner Cisco understands “you want the same experience from the cloud as your on-premises solutions.” Those who have achieved the Master Cloud
and Managed Service Provider designation are companies that Cisco is assured can provide reliability and security.

TBL’s own Limelight offerings are now branded as Cisco Powe red services. As a result, when you use this service, you’re using a Cisco validated solution that has met strict qualifications. Cisco Powered services go through third party audits to ensure you’re delivered what
you’re promised.

Out of the 15,502 registered Cisco Partners, there are only 41 who hold all 3 of these designations. We are proud to be one of them, and to give our clients further confidence in TBL Networks.

Missed our Last Dash & Dine Business Event? Don’t Fret!

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Alan Sears

TBL Networks is holding another Dash & Dine business networking event Thursday, October 2nd!

Dash in, meet and greet with TBL Networks’ account team, mingle over a few appetizers and drinks, and dash out with dinner to go for your family (you’ll be the hero!) And just like that, in no time at all, we will be acquainted… or reacquainted!

During our time, we would like to make a quick introduction to TBL’s Limelight PCaaS — Private Cloud as a Service.

TBL’s Limelight PCaaS is priced as a monthly, per user expense. This structure allows you to plan on predictable costs to offer services as your user-base expands. You no longer need to worry about adding another user and reaching the next inflection point resulting in a costly expansion of the system. Best of all, this means that it’s an operating expense — no huge outlay of capital dollars. Instead, Limelight PCaaS offers the scalability to grow or shift priorities, giving you ultimate control over your bottom line. Finally, you can have your cake and eat it too, with your own Private Cloud as a Service.

Say that you will join us:  Thursday, October 2
4 – 7 PM (drop by for the 30 minutes that’s best for you!)

Where: Maggiano’s Little Italy
11800 W Broad Street, #2204
Richmond, VA 23233
(Look for us in the BAR!)

RSVP by September 30th on EventBrite

VCE, EMC, VMware Cisco and TBL: Innovating Together

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Alan Sears

With Limelight PCaaS – Private Cloud as a Service – TBL has developed strategic alliances with VCE, EMC, VMware and Cisco, to bring you access to the most flexible and reliable technology and infrastructure possible at a per user monthly fee and with no capital expenditures.

With Limelight PCaaS, we manage an advanced solution of network and infrastructure for you. We take care of maintenance, updates, backups, integrations, configurations and more all on equipment that sits at your location. By having your own private cloud, you can have the peace of mind of predictable costs and security with none of the hassle.

Through these strategic alliances with VCE, EMC, VMware and Cisco, you’ll seamlessly utilize the best in server infrastructure, desktop virtualization, and collaboration, enabling you to focus on your business, customers, and service while TBL focuses on serving your organization with Limelight PCaaS.

Learn More About Limelight PCaaS

How the Internet of Everything is Effecting Education & Jobs

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Alan Sears

In January, we talked about how Cisco defined the Internet of Everything and some of their top 10 insights in “Connecting the Unconnected“. This month, Cisco published a blog article detailing the Internet of Everything effecting education and jobs in the U.S. and worldwide. To quote their infographic, “Twenty-five billion devices will be connected by next year, and that number will grow to 50 billion by 2020.” They also state that “it will create 600,000 more manufacturing jobs alone in the U.S. to automate and analyze supply chain data over the network. This data will of course need to be analyzed, resulting in 300,000 new data analyst jobs to bring intelligent decisions to big data.” That’s an extensive amount of people that will need educated in the field.

With Cisco taking this step towards IoE, they have included many certifications available for engineers. Read more about how they plan to help develop knowledgable IT professionals.

The VP of Learning Cisco talks about IoE and jobs:

TBL Limelight PCaaS Solutions

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Alan Sears

TBL Unveils New Product Offerings and Premieres New Video

I am very excited to announce the official launch of an introductory video that explains TBL’s new product offering: Limelight PCaaS (Private Cloud as a Service). TBL Limelight PCaaS is an original new way for organizations to consume technology, spotlighting the key benefits of both on-premise and public cloud solutions. TBL is bringing this unique service to market initially for its three core technologies: Limelight Collaboration for voice, video & collaboration solutions, Limelight Desktop for VDI solutions, and Limelight Infrastructure for server consolidation solutions. I could go on about this innovative technology design, but instead, I’ll just post the great new video. Take 2 minutes and learn why organizations will be deploying TBL Limelight PCaaS:

Guest Blog Post – CJsTUF: Expansion is on the Horizon

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Rachel Reynolds

TBL Networks is proud to present guest blogger Rachel Reynolds, Executive Director at CJSTUF.

Actually, it’s already here! CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation (CJSTUF.org) has begun accepting applications for Financial Assistance Grants from families receiving treatment at UVA Health System in Charlottesville. This year, we have expanded the entirety of the $500 grant program to include 40 VCU families and 20 UVA families and we expect to have a waiting list at the end of the year.

The wonderful support we’ve received from our many donors has made all this possible. From the Lewis family, who, not only having to deal with daughter, Lauryn’s cancer diagnosis, also had two other daughters for which they needed to care, with mom expecting child no. 4 ANY DAY (mommy and baby are both doing well) to Campbell (“Soup”) who always seems to have a smile so enchanting Children’s Hospital of Richmond put her face on billboards all over town, your generosity has put smiles on faces and hope in hearts of those who need it most (not to mention some healthy food in bellies and a few bucks in the bank account).

Our next big things are Butterfly Socials (you can host your own), CJ The DJ’s Bluegrass (Mostly) Boogaloo on July 19 at Ashland Coffee & Tea, dinners at Ronald McDonald House of Richmond, and an art auction at Blenheim Farms Winery in Charlottesville on Thursday, August 21. Please visit www.cjstuf.org for more information on how you can become involved.

TBL in Tech Elite 250 for 3rd Time

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Alan Sears

Fourth Annual List recognizes TBL Networks’ deep technical expertise and premier certifications

TBL Networks announced today it has been named to CRN’s fourth annual list of the Tech Elite 250. Companies on the 2014 Tech Elite 250 list represent an elite group of IT Solution Providers that have invested in the training and education needed to earn the most technical certifications in the IT Channel.

In compiling the list, CRN editors worked with the UBM Tech Channel research group and a team of outside experts to define the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the IT channel. These technical certifications have enabled solution providers to deliver the most premium products, service and support to their North American customers.

“TBL Networks is honored to be named once again to CRN’s Tech Elite 250,” said Alan Sears, President and CEO of TBL Networks, Inc. “This recognition reflects our commitment to providing our clients with technology aligned with business outcomes and unmatched customer service.”

TBL Networks’ dedication to training and certifications were instrumental in their selection. Founded by three Cisco Voice CCIEs, TBL Networks is a Cisco Certified Gold Partner, a VMware Enterprise Solutions Provider, an EMC Premier Velocity Partner, and a VCE Vblock Qualified Partner.

“The 2014 Tech Elite 250 list recognizes an exclusive group of solution providers that have invested in training and technical know-how to help their customers understand the benefits of some of the most sophisticated technology deployments in the market – and have shown a dedication to helping customers innovate while reducing costs,” said Kelley Damore, Senior Vice President, Editorial Director at UBM Tech Channel. “By identifying and adapting to the skills and training needed to best serve today’s customers, members of the Tech Elite 250 have proven their commitment to delivering the products and services that today’s customers value most.”

A sample of CRN’s 2014 “Tech Elite 250” list is featured in the February issue of CRN Magazine and online at www.crn.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 www.theblinkylight.com.

Childhood Cancer Breakthrough

Posted on February 27, 2014 by Alan Sears

As many of you know, TBL Networks began a partnership in 2010 with the World Community Grid, an entity that allows organizations with idle compute capacity to donate it for use in research projects ranging from cancer research to clean energy. When idle, a member computer will request data on a specific project from World Community Grid’s server, and perform computations on this data, sending the results back to the server, and then ask the server for new work. Each computation that a computer performs provides scientists with critical information that accelerates the pace of human discovery. For the last three and a half years, TBL Networks has had a 40 machine Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment using VMware View on our Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) dual B-series blade farm dedicated to finding a cure for cancer. In that time, TBL’s VMware View cluster has computed almost 61 years of runtime towards finding a cure for cancer.

What is exciting now is that the Help Fight Childhood Cancer research team in Japan recently announced it has discovered seven drug candidates that show great promise as new treatments for neuroblastoma, one of the most common and dangerous forms of childhood cancer. In lab tests, these drug candidates were very effective at destroying neuroblastoma tumors without any apparent side effects. This breakthrough marks one of the most significant scientific discoveries to date for World Community Grid and was made possible by the computing power of member computers like the Cisco UCS system at TBL.

Learn more about this groundbreaking discovery in this blog post from Dr. Nakagawara, who leads the Help Fight Childhood Cancer research team, and share the exciting news!

Connecting the Unconnected

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Alan Sears

Cisco has been discussing the next advance in technology, describing it as the Internet of Everything. Cisco defines the Internet of Everything (IoE) as “as the networked connection of people, process, data, and things.”[i] Not only will IoE change the way that we are connected, it will provide opportunities for companies across the globe to increase their profit and market share. A recent report reviewed the Top 10 Insights from Cisco IoE Value Index survey. Some highlights follow below:

Insight – “The Internet of Everything is poised to generate at least $613 billion in global corporate profits in calendar year 2013.”
As technology continues to evolve, the impending efficiencies in operations and customer service experience will allow companies to generate more income.

Insight – “Corporations could potentially nearly double those profits by adopting business practices, customer approaches, and technologies that more fully leverage IoE.”
By adjusting corporate strategies to adopt to this coming change, companies have the opportunity to capture additional income.

Insight – “Competition will intensify as IoE evens the playing field between large and small companies around the globe.”
IoE will not occur in a vacuum. Competition will increase as your rivals adapt to these new advances and compete for market share.

Insight – “While technology is pivotal, people and process make the difference.”
Any advance in technology or new method of addressing old problems does not matter if it does help people. Your employees and customers will not see the benefit of these developments without a focus on how it helps people.

At TBL Networks, we pride ourselves by designing solutions for our clients that allow their employees and customers to connect to each other in ways that improve the quality and speed of interaction. We call this techumanity. The Internet of Everything is coming – whether it improves our world will depend on where we all keep the focus. By connecting the unconnected and remembering the value of our customers and employees, the Internet of Everything can benefit us all.