Bandwidth Bottlenecks Can Bring Your Business to a Crawl

Ahhhhhhhh!  Another frustrating day at work for you? Could it be because everything you wanted to do was slow as molasses? Each website you visited was slower than the last and your business depends on internet hosted applications, or “in the cloud” solutions? If that describes you, chances are good that you are suffering from a bandwidth bottleneck.

If you find everyone in the organization is slow, it narrows it down to one of a few things. An internet connection that was not designed for the amount of traffic you are moving through it, issues with your internet service provider,  an extraordinarily high amount of traffic due to end of month activity within your own business, or it could be the result of something more sinister.

Determining if your connection speed is right for your business can take some research, however it is obvious that you should have more bandwidth available to you than you will typically use, not the other way around. Calls to your ISP may help you discover if the problem is upstream from you. Leaving two potential situations that may look similar initially. If you are closing out your month and everyone is busily publishing reports, then you may notice a spike in internet bandwidth usage on your business network, however, there could be other reasons that you might want to investigate.

Your users could be streaming audio/video, or utilizing the business network for unnecessary activities which could be robbing you of precious bandwidth, or, on the darker side, a machine could be infected with mal-ware that is consuming bandwidth in several unsavoury ways. To the untrained eye, spikes in network usages may appear the result of a user streaming, when in fact, their machine has been compromised and proprietary business collateral is being passed to the outside, or that machine may be relaying hundreds of thousands of unsolicited email / spam.

If you find your business network is experiencing an unexpected slow-down, it is best to seek the assistance of your IT professionals right away to avoid further exposure if that is the case. The old adage is, “better to be safe than sorry”, and it certainly applies here.

Homeland Secure IT will be glad to answer any questions you might have should you encounter a situation of this nature. Please call us. If you are already a client of ours and this is occurring after-hours, please do not hesitate to use your techs personal contact information. Your security is our first priority!

Content Filtering Question: Has Social Media Hurt Your Business or Helped?

As I sit here, I am reading a friend’s status on Facebook that says, “well…ugh!!! no more waiting on the mail….got denied my unemployment cuz the state says i had disregard for my employer when i posted on facebook i was loosing my job. ??? SO…ADVICE….NEVER talk about your job, and NEVER have coworkers as friends on facebook!!!!! now, if i could just find a job, none of this would matter!”. I heard from her two weeks ago, and she had lost her job officially because the business she worked for saw her post that she was afraid she was losing her job and they let her go. There is probably more to this story, like the position she was in was being phased out, etc, and when she heard about it, she posted on Facebook that she was worried about her job and they took that as an opportunity to go ahead and eliminate her.

That is a sad story, but there are plenty more like them. A few weeks ago, I remember seeing someone post on Facebook that they had been terminated from their job because of questionable content on their personal Facebook, and there have been several higher profile cases make the mainstream media that are similar. Person posts something on a social networking site, employer sees it, employer fires worker.

While we are talking about the bad sides of social media, we might as well hit upon these: Business secrets are leaked, time is wasted, bandwidth is consumed and disputes with clients and rival businesses happen.

But what about the good aspects? Some businesses uses Social Media as a means for following what the world is saying about their products or those of their competitor. Network Solutions for instance saw me ranting on Twitter one day and started up a conversation to ask how they could help me. That is a great customer service and marketing tool in my opinion. Many other businesses use social networking as a vehicle for promoting their products or services in a more direct way, which can be annoying, but for the most part, business in general does not “spam” their offerings to the world.

Another good side of social media would be the ability to keep up with trends and to catch the latest breaking news in your industry. Due to Twitter I have been able to see security information instantly instead of waiting for email notification from the various sources. Staying up to date is vital to keeping our clients operating properly.

There are obviously two sides to this coin. If your business finds itself in need of blocking certain content, such as access to social networking sites, this is possible through the use of firewalls and software packages that can permit access to a particular site while blocking access to others, or you can disallow everything across the board. If you would like to discuss how content filtering can help you or your business, please contact us for a free consultation.

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Finding Computer Repair in Greenville and Upstate South Carolina

Yesterday I wrote about how phone books seem to be going the way of the Commodore 64 (relegated to being used as a door stop). Of course as soon as I said that, I got a phone call from a potential client who had gotten our name out of the phone book. First one this year I believe. However, she had looked in the WHITE pages and she was looking for a specific name, not something like “Computer Repair” or “Computer Sales”, etc. She actually was not even looking for anything to do with computers at all! She was looking for a locksmith actually who’s name was something like Upstate Security or Homeland Security, and found our name. Turns out, when I told her that we did computer sales, computer service, computer consultation, etc, she said she NEEDED someone to fix her computer and I gave her the name of a really good Locksmith at the same time.

I have looked to see how people are finding our business in searches, and I have asked each new client how they found us. The majority always say “We just Googled for you”, and then I have to ask exactly what they searched for. Most of the time it is “Greenville Computer” something, like “Greenville Computer Sales” or “Greenville Computer Repair”, and most always it is Google being used, but a few have used Bing.

I received some input regarding my thoughts from yesterday and it appears that nobody that read the blog entry actually uses a paper phone book. One person said they instantly toss new phone books in the garbage (I told them to consider recycling). A fellow business owner in the same field who follows my silliness on this blog told me that when he is in need of anything, he first uses his own address book which is loaded with hundreds of contacts (Outlook, Exchange and his phone), and if fails to locate what he is after, he then uses search engines exclusively because the time it takes to lay his hands on a phone book and flip through it is a waste of his money. Then my wife weighed in and said “many businesses in the phone book have gone OUT of business in the time since it was printed”. So it would seem that most people feel the same way that I feel.

If you are using yellow page advertising in the computer service or computer support field and are having great success, I would be interested in hearing from you. In fact, if you have any comments, just email me, or comment on this article. (I’m envisioning every phone book ad salesperson emailing or calling me…)

Greenville Google On Main Still Going Strong

Now it has been over a week since the Google On Main #GoogleOnMain event where thousands gathered in Greenville’s Falls Park while aircraft flew overhead capturing the spectacle on video and stills. Yes, the #LuckyGVL sponsored event was spectacular without question! More info on this event, including photos and video can be found on http://www.wearefeelinglucky.com/

This coming Tuesday evening at 7PM, there will be a follow-up event that you should go to if you are in the Upstate…  Find that information here: http://wearefeelinglucky.eventbrite.com/ This will be a fun event and you will get to see unreleased footage of the Google On Main campaign!

And it would be great if you could join the Facebook fan page and help support the Upstate of South Carolina: http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Are-Feeling-Lucky-Greenville-SC-For-Google-Fiber/108303235861525?ref=nf&_fb_noscript=1 This group has grown to more than 1700 in a few days now and your participation is invited and encouraged.

Remember, what helps Greenville, helps the UPSTATE of South Carolina. So if you are from Easley, Six Mile, Pickens, Piedmont, Liberty, Duncan, Spartanburg, Anderson, Simpsonville, etc, it doesn’t matter, if we are selected by Google as the place to roll out 1Gbps high speed fiber internet, without a question, you will see the benefits anywhere in the Upstate!

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When You Need Computer Repair Do You Search Online or Use a Phone book?

If you are like most people, you keep a good ‘ol Yellow Page phone book handy. Many offices I have been in over the years while repairing computers have used phone books, but not for looking up numbers, they will tape a few together and raise their monitors up on them so they are viewing at a comfortable angle. And without a doubt, if you run a business, you have phone books being pushed on you by at least 3 companies that publish these directories.

Homeland Secure IT decided not to take out an ad in any of the directories due to the fact that our target market is primarily a very tech savvy group and they use their computers to search for phone numbers and addresses or have VoIP packages that allow them unlimited directory assistance calls. A good majority of them have all the contacts they ever need already programmed into their mail client’s address books.

So I guess the question is, when YOU need computer repair, do you search online or do you reach for a phone book? If you use Google, what would you search for to find a computer repair business? “Greenville Computer Repair” or maybe “Greenville Computer Fix”? I would love to hear your opinions…

For your viewing pleasure, here is Greg Varner, our Network Engineer displaying showing just how he feels about phone books:

Just what DOES Homeland Secure IT, LLC do anyway?

That question was asked in a webinar a bit ago and was difficult to explain because what we do at Homeland Secure IT is far more than can be explained in a simple response like, “We work on computers”. While that is true, it is by no means the primary focus of our business.

Of course our main site, http://www.HomelandSecureIT.com explains a lot about what we do, but it still does not cover what we do best, which is – we build a relationship with our clients. We don’t just fix or repair their existing infrastructure, we really get to know the client and their needs. Most of the time, we are aware of problems before the client is, and in many instances are able to make corrections before it affects the client. Knowing our client allows us to recommend ways they can get more out of their network and to make recommendations about new technology that may help them WITHOUT interfering with current hardware/software or processes.

We will work with a company from the planning stages onward. Meaning that we will consult with them and their other providers to ensure we build a network which works in harmony. From Voice over IP, to Microsoft Exchange Server, Blackberry Enterprise Server, firewalls and VPNs to networked security cameras, process controls, HVAC, right down to the desktop level. We will handle all the difficult issues and let the business owners do what they do best – run their business!

These relationships extend past the doors of their offices too. We have owners and employees alike calling us after hours, on weekends and holidays, for priority calls, and we also maintain many of their home networks and computers too.

In addition to performing consultation, service, support and sales of all things IT, we also are interested in our community. We have been supporting the Google On Main #GoogleOnMain / #LuckyGVL initiative which is trying to persuade Google to bring their ultra-fast high-speed 1 Gbps connection to Greenville & the Upstate of South Carolina so we can be the testbed for this awesome technology. For more information on how you can get involved to help our community, please visit http://www.WeAreFeelingLucky.com

So what does Homeland Secure IT do? We can do as little or as much as you require. Call us today and schedule an appointment for us to evaluate your needs and determine how we can assist you or your company!

Social Network Knows No Borders

I received an email from a gentleman saying that someone mentioned that I could help him with a computer issue he was having. Thing is, he was not in my geographic service area of Greenville and the Upstate of South Carolina. He was not even in our state. He was from Arizona.

Now it is not uncommon for someone to Google us and call from an area that is not in our service area, but he called at the suggestion of someone who saw my posting on Twitter. They happened to be following the same hashtag that I was posting to and suggested us to the gentleman in their area.

So what did I do? I helped him, of course! Didn’t know what to charge him… 5 minutes to fix a simple problem (the guy had taken it to 2 places and they couldn’t fix it, but fortunately I was able to do so in email)

What it boils down to though is that even though we are using hashtags like #LuckyGVL #GoogleOnMain and #Greenville, which one would think were localized, there are people all over the world watching. It can lead to new friends, new business contacts, and other interesting opportunities. Heck, we recently became a vendor of a product because of a chance online meeting!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

There, I said it! “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”….

It has been a long week here at Homeland Secure IT, with everyone tied up on a job almost constantly! Server deployment started today. Four computers sold and to be installed for one client, and another computer sold and going in on Monday… Not to mention a 1 TB RAID array installed in an existing server (Yes, another Dell with limited resources) and all the data moved. Interviews with potential employees, visits from new clients and contacts, and multiple computers with malware.

Never a dull moment here! Thank God for Greg and Scott! Now, who will be the next to join our team? Don’t be shy.. Let us know if you think you might be a fit for us! I have an earlier blog entry outlining what we are looking for.

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Free Microsoft T-Shirt

Homeland Secure IT, LLC has sponsored a couple Microsoft events where we showcased Microsoft products such as Microsoft Server 2008 R2, Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Office 2010 (due out later this year), and Windows 7. Because Microsoft can actually be pretty cool and we partner with them, they gave us some neat promotional products to give away at these events. Unfortunately (for us), we did not fill every seat, but fortunately for you, it left us with a couple items and we want to give them away.

To the first 3 people who leave a response to this posting and are capable of driving by our office at 104 Mauldin Rd, Suite E in Greenville, SC, we will give a Microsoft T-Shirt, size is XL I believe. We might even have a pen or pad left over and throw that in as well. So, click on the comment button and tell us who you are and we will hook you up!

Google High Speed Fiber Internet Still THE Hot Topic in Greenville

If you are from the Greenville / Upstate area you would have to be living as a Quaker to not know about all that is going on with the effort to bring Google Fiber here. Heck, even Quakers probably are aware of the community effort to catch the eye of Google. It is not just localized either. Greenville is showing up in discussions on blogs all over the world, and in online and print publications you will find mentions of this grass roots effort. Just a few moments ago, we received word that a Time Magazine writer confirmed there will be an article published about Google On Main.

To give you an idea how things happen here… It was mentioned to Fairway Outdoor Advertising that another city had put up some billboards… Within minutes, Fairway Outdoor (@FairwayOutdoor on Twitter) had programmed two of their digital billboards on two very major streets to support the Google On Main / We Are Feeling Lucky movement! People are meeting with the Mayor and City officials, the news media like Amy Wood (@TVAmy) are in touch with what is happening. And those who were involved in last Saturday’s Google On Main event are getting recognition by the community as well. My wife @PamelaHoyt and I have received phone calls, text messages, emails, tweets and facebook messages saying “HEY! I saw you on TV”. 

And in some of the most surprising events, those who are active on social networking sites are being contacted by supporters of other city’s initiatives and told how we don’t stand a chance, etc! hahah All I can say to them is, Greenville wishes you the best of luck! This is all in fun, though we are serious about wanting it for our area. We want to keep it positive!

If you want to get involved, please sign our petition at www.wearefeelinglucky.comand join the various social networking discussions taking place on Facebook, Twitter, and an interesting one, the Google Wave forum that has been setup… A link to that can be found at the www.wearefeelinglucky.com website. If you would like an invite to Google Wave, please contact me and I will invite you.