Networking company Brocade has earned a $2.1 million incentive from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), one of the largest ever under the utility’s Non-Residential New Construction Program. Central to Brocade’s campaign to collect that money was a new data center and research laboratory on its year-old corporate campus in San Jose, Calif. The campus itself is Gold-certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The new data center, which is approximately 5,000 square feet, squeezed the equipment of three data centers into one while achieving a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ratio of 1.2. PUE describes the ratio of cooling equipment to information technology in a given data center. The closer to 1.0, the better. The entire research and development facility housing the data center is 70,000 square feet. From an efficiency standpoint, here are some other things to know about the facility: The consolidation saved roughly 14 million kilowatt-hours per year in electricity consumption, or $1.5 million in electricity costs Carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 5,700 tons Water consumption decreased 40 percent A 550-kilowatt photovoltaic array system on campus has helped save about $100,000 per year in electricity costs Michael Hirahara, vice president of global real estate, facilities and services for Brocade, said: “Our headquarters project is just one example of how we apply cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions to our business operations and our products. Looking forward, we are also evaluating alternative energy solutions like wind and fuel cells as we strive to be good stewards of our communities, the environment, and our shareholders’ investment, now and into the future.” When I spoke with Hirahara about the data center this week, he told me there were five key design factors key for squeezing the most energy efficiency out of the facility: A power distribution architecture that brings high voltage electricity into the campus, resulting in less line loss. The high-efficiency chillers (see photo) are in an central plant with only one primary loop for higher efficiency. Water-side economizers are used extensively during the winter months and they help keep the data center pre-cooled so that less energy is necessary to cool things down In-row cooling units and hot aisle containment Servers that are more than 75 percent virtualized A modular design approach that uses pods to expand, as necessary
What are the advantages of broadband VPN? There are several advantages associated with broadband VPN. These include: Bonding DSL – one of the main advantages of using a broadband VPN through Managed Communications is the ability to bond ADSL at multiple office locations to deliver a point to point connection. This broadband VPN solution offers resilience as well as increased broadband capacity for downloading at both sites. Reduced cost of internet breakout – another advantage of a broadband VPN is that it cuts the cost of internet breakout. Typically, a point to point leased line requires at least one additional internet connection. If the network contains many sites, internet breakout can become very expensive. If traffic is backhauled over leased lines to save costs on internet access, you need to route that traffic through the point to point link. This reduces the available bandwidth for other applications. With a broadband VPN, you can manage internet breakout cost effectively on a site by site basis without reducing available bandwidth for applications. Get an excellent service level agreement (SLA) – with an ADSL VPN from Managed Communications, you get a private network and negate the need for leased line internet breakout. But importantly you also get a 99.9% SLA so you can be totally confident about the level you will receive. Get expert advice and keep track of the latest technological breakthroughs – our engineers are experts in Cisco VPN, Checkpoint VPN and Netscreen VPN hardware. And with their years of knowledge and experience in the field, you know that you will be getting the best possible outcome for your business. Nobody knows more about VPN networks than Managed Communications. Can I use SDSL in the VPN? Yes. SDSL is commonly used in the VPN solutions we provide, making Managed Communications a great fit for companies that upload large amounts of data on a regular basis. If your business operates in the creative sector, regularly updates websites or stores a lot of data in the cloud, an SDSL VPN network could save you time and money. However, the VPN networks at Managed Communications are not merely limited to SDSL. Ethernet, traditional leased lines, ADSL and SHDSL can also be used in the VPNs that we provide to individuals and businesses. Can I use a broadband VPN as an alternative to a leased line? Yes. A broadband VPN from Managed Communications is often used to replace leased lines. You get up to 13 static IPs, a 99.9% SLA and a secure private network. This means that you can enjoy a solution that combines the best of both worlds – a high level of performance approaching that of a leased line with surprisingly low operating costs. Is your VPN service secure? Yes. You will be able to benefit from a totally private UK wide VPN infrastructure when you access the Managed Communications VPN service. This private network architecture is a vital component of our secure and reliable VPN solutions. The carrier grade 3DES technical architecture combined with layered IP technology allows you to obtain very secure inter-site connectivity solutions using either SSL VPN orIPsecVPN. Are all charges included in the managed VPN solution? Yes. Moves, additions and changes are always included in the price of the managed VPN service. You also get a fully maintained and monitored VPN service. You don’t have to worry about optimising the performance of the VPN network. A dedicated team of highly skilled IP engineers make sure that your VPN is working at optimum performance levels at all times. Rest assured that your VPN service is pro-actively monitored on your behalf to maintain link and bandwidth throughput availability. Can you provide managed VPN solutions that incorporate overseas offices? Yes. If you operate overseas then we can incorporate your foreign sites into the secure SSL VPN or IPsecVPN infrastructure. Can I use bonded ADSL or load balanced ADSL as part of a managed VPN solution? Yes. You have the market leaders in bonding ADSL and SDSL on your side when you choose a Managed Communications VPN network. Bonding DSL services is a technically challenging process to say the least so you should always pick a supplier with care. By joining forces with Managed Communications, you will be in the company of a host of hugely respected institutions including the NHS, several UK police forces and blue-chip firms. Find out for yourself what they already know – that a VPN network is a major advantage for any organisation. Is it true that I can connect lots of sites into the VPN network? Yes. You can connect as many sites into the private VPN as you require. There is no restriction on either the number of sites that can be connected or the type of connectivity that can be deployed at each individual site. You can also choose between broadband or MPLS VPN technology. Can I connect my remote staff into my office systems over a VPN? Yes. You can securely connect sales staff, directors and other remote workers into your head office systems. A popular and cost effective option is to bond several DSL circuits at head office to enable the upload performance required to support multiple remote staff at locations around the UK. Customers have an impressive choice of Cisco VPN, Checkpoint VPN and Netscreen VPN hardware. Can I run VoIP over a managed VPN? Yes. You can choose to run voice over MPLS VPN or over a broadband VPN. 1:1 contention levels, 99.9% SLA, up/downstream QOS and advanced traffic routing mean that Managed Communications VPN services are an ideal choice for running VOIP
Social networking has exploded in recent years. Virtually everyone (even your employer) engages in some sort of social networking activity. Employers use social networking websites to learn more about their job applicants, employees, and the individuals who sue them. As social networking has increased so has the number of employees terminated for their social networking activities. Two employees sued their former employer in New Jersey federal court earlier this year after they were fired for their MySpace activities. Brian Pietrylo and Doreen Marino created a MySpace forum to vent, complain, and make fun of their employer and supervisors. Management learned about the forum and terminated Pietrylo’s and Marino’s employment for violating the company’s professionalism policy. The Pietrylo case raised the question of whether an employer can terminate an employee for private statements made on a social networking website. Unfortunately, the Pietrylo case did not answer that question, leaving employees to wonder what social networking activities can result in termination. While there is not much clarity in this area, you should be aware of the following if you engage in social networking activities: You should not say or do anything in your social networking activities that you do not want public. You must realize that nothing on the internet is private. That is true even if your profile is set to private. For instance, I worked on a case where the plaintiff told his Facebook friends to lie to the EEOC and say that he was terminated because of his race. The plaintiff’s page was set to private leading him to believe that his communications were private. They were not. The EEOC dismissed the case when it saw the plaintiff’s Facebook page. You should not say or do anything that you do not want to be publicly available, because your information or communications can be accessed by current or potential employers, coworkers, recruitment agencies, government and law enforcement agencies, among others. You should assume that your employer is monitoring your social networking activities. It would be extremely difficult (if not, impossible) for an employer to monitor the social networking activities of all its employees. However, operating under the assumption that your employer is monitoring your activities will help you to avoid behavior that could get you fired. That tip may have saved a National Suisse employee’s job. Earlier this year, a National Suisse employee told her manager that she had a migraine headache that prevented her from using her computer. National Suisse allowed the woman to take a sick day to recuperate. Once home, the woman logged on to Facebook. National Suisse terminated the employee claiming that her behavior destroyed its trust because her Facebook activity unequivocally showed that she could use a computer. You should not make any comments, post any pictures, or engage in behavior that you do not want known by your manager. You should monitor what people put on your social networking page and say about you on the internet. The internet’s lawlessness has caused some to equate it with the wild west. The internet is lawless. You may conduct yourself flawlessly on the internet and still be harmed by a comment someone else makes on your page or a picture of you someone else posts. A forklift driver was terminated when his managers saw a video on YouTube of his at-work forklift stunts which included performing burnouts, wheelies, and crashing into stacks of pipes. The video was not posted by the forklift driver. It was posted by a coworker who filmed the stunts and thought they were “cool.” You should conduct regular internet searches to see what information is available about you. You should have negative or derogatory information removed. You should not disclose confidential company information. Employers terminate employees who disclose confidential company information on social networking websites. Last month, Barneys’ café terminated an employee for tweeting that an actress skipped out on her check. The employee did not mention the restaurant’s name. The employee was never told that he could not tweet about customers, was not asked to stop tweeting about customers, and was not previously warned that tweeting about customers was unacceptable and could result in termination. None of that stopped Barneys from terminating the employee on his first offense. You should not disclose your company’s confidential, private, proprietary, or privileged information on your social networking website or otherwise. You should know your company’s policy on social networking. On September 23, 2009, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics reported that “social media has caught many employers by surprise” and company policies have not yet caught up with the explosion of social media use by their employees. There are some companies that have social networking policies. If your company has such a policy, you should know what your company says about acceptable and unacceptable social networking behavior. The lack of a social networking policy does not prevent you from being disciplined or terminated. Many companies that do not have formal social networking policies are using more general company policies to discipline employees for social networking activities. Companies often rely on their Confidentiality policy, Inappropriate Conduct policy, and/or Anti-discrimination policy in addressing employee’s social networking activities. In fact, two Burger King executives were terminated for their blog comments. Burger King did not claim the executives violated a social networking policy; rather, Burger King claimed that the employees violated company guidelines that prohibit employees from speaking for the company outside of official corporate releases, guidelines against disclosing information about private negotiations, among other guidelines. You should be aware of any company policy that deals with conduct or the disclosure of information before engaging in social networking activities. You should research whether your State has an off-duty conduct law. Employees can be terminated for virtually any reason provided the reason is not discriminatory. That general rule is changing in some States. Some States have enacted laws which prohibit employers from disciplining or terminating employees for non-criminal, off-duty conduct. For instance, New York has a legal activities law that prohibits discrimination against job applicants and employees who engage in lawful activities during nonworking hours. For another instance, Colorado has a law that prohibits employers from terminating employees for lawful off-duty conduct. The off-duty conduct laws have not been tested by an employee who was terminated for social networking activities. However, those laws would seem to apply to social networking activities which for the most part are not criminal. An off-duty conduct law should severely restrict an employer’s ability to terminate employees for social networking activities. You should determine if your state has enacted laws which prohibit discipline or termination for non-criminal, off-duty conduct. Employees’ social networking activities are increasingly becoming the basis for discipline and termination. A recent survey found that 17% of large employers have disciplined employees for social networking activities and 8% of large employers have terminated employees for social networking activities. Those numbers will probably escalate in the future, especially given the growing popularity of social networking. So, you should continue to network on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter, but be careful because your social networking activities can result in discipline, up to and including your termination. Shalanda Ballard is an employment defense attorney who has defended employers in all facets of employment litigation. Ms. Ballard was named in the National Register’s Who’s Who and in Law & Politics Magazine as a Rising Star. She has spoken at continuing legal education conferences and employment law seminars.
If you are looking for a telecommunication & networking products like modems, routers, web cameras and others then you can take a look at RealTime Systems Ltd. RealTime Systems Ltd; (RTS) established in 1980 is a Government of India recognized R&D house with an ISO 9001-2000 certification for strict adherence to consistent quality and detailed documentated processes. It provides networking products like lease line modems, VPN broadband routers, enterprise routers, web cameras, wired and wireless internet cameras. It also manufacturing and sales of IT networking, Telecom access and on-line ups. Realtime’s expertise is in the design, development, manufacturing and sales of Telecom Access, IT-Networking, Digital Television Technology, on-line UPS systems and bright LED lights. RealTime is one of the oldest technologies Company in private sector in India, with a large library of IP that facilitates legacy Telco’s implement modern technology seamlessly for features and functionality to the growing requirements of customers for Voice, Data and Video. It develops cost effective, environmentally friendly, scalable high quality, user friendly products that facilitate customers to enjoy the technological advances to improve the quality of life. It has a wide range of products to address most of the last mile segments on legacy and fiber networks. RealTime also supplies RealLite products like micro puck lights, task lights and RealLite under cabinet lights. Realtime’s customers trust our technological strengths to design and develop custom specified products for mass deployment on their networks for voice, data and video services for their customers. At Home Products you can find products that are useful in homes like switches, high speed ADSL2 bridges and routers. If you want to know more about networking products then take a look at RealTime website. RealTime Systems Ltd. provides reliable networking products such as Lease line modems, enterprise routers, web cameras and many more. It also manufacturing and sales of IT networking, Telecom access and on-line ups.
Adaptive Private Networking (APN) is a new technology that combines affordable and easily obtainable IP bandwidth sources such as broadband with high performance, more expensive WAN (wide area network) technologies like MPLS. The end result is next-generation enterprise WANs that can deliver 30 to 100 times the bandwidth per dollar while reducing WAN costs by anywhere from 40 to 90%. Additionally, APN technology offers greater reliability than any modern single provider Frame Relay or MPLS WANs. The Enterprise WAN market has not seen a lot of change for many years. In the early 1990′s, Frame Relay brought better bandwidth at a lower cost to IT Managers looking for alternatives to X.25 and point-to-point leased lines when building their WANs. Frame Relay, along with the comparably expensive single-sourced MPLS services are still the predominant technologies for corporate Intranet traffic today. Both technologies have the benefit of offering highly reliable (“3½ nines,” i.e., 99.95%, or better) service from a single carrier. However, the cost of these services comes at a price that is still equal to 1998 pricing on a cost-per-Mbps basis. The disconnect with regards to pricing becomes very noticeable when compared with the improved affordability of broadband connectivity such as DSL or Cable internet over the same period of time. These services are as cheap as $3 to $15/month per Mbps, and in some cases even less. However, the reason why enterprise businesses have continued to use more expensive solutions such as Frame Relay and MPLS is because the reliability of broadband and internet networks is no business quality and unlikely to ever get to a 99.99% reliability level. This is where Adaptive Private Networking bridges the gap. APN appliances leverage network bandwidth from multiple sources with a WAN, such as high-speed MPLS connections at central locations and broadband connections at branch locations. In the same way that a VOIP service such as Skype uses overlay networking techniques, APN does the same thing. In layman’s terms, this concept allows your wide area network to use large amounts of inexpensive broadband bandwidth combined with small amounts of more expensive MPLS or Frame Relay in order to deliver business-quality connections over the entire network at a fraction of the cost. The APN appliance performs real-time, per-packet traffic engineering and proprietary end to end algorithms to deliver reliability. The benefits of this technology are massive when consider the reliability and bandwidth required for applications such as VOIP and videoconferencing across an enterprise level corporation. Now a central office in New York can conduct videoconferencing with dozens of branches spread across the country using a hybrid consisting of large percentage of affordable broadband bandwidth and a small percentage of more expensive private bandwidth in order to deliver business quality connections at a fraction of the price. http://reviews-mann.blogspot.com/2010/02/final-fantasy-xiii-preview.html http://www.google.com/profiles/mannzunty http://twitter.com/lizareckon
