Communication for Public Safety
Our Dutch counterparts at FrontierBV published this article last week. We are sharing it here with slight modification for a US audience.
Our Dutch counterparts at FrontierBV published this article last week. We are sharing it here with slight modification for a US audience.
Peplink and Pepwave have brought innovation and reliability to the communications market. The Peplink line has revolutionized SD-WAN with their Fusion Hub technology and InControl network management software. The Pepwave line has created a continuous never-fail connection for thousands of mobile installations around the globe. Until now, however, Peplink did not offer a networking switch.
People in the IT Business can chat for hours in an alphabet soup of code words that fly over the heads of even some of the technically connected. It’s easy to tune them out (and often a saved migraine). Sometimes, however, it is good to know what all those letters mean. We have moved past the days when tech people did their thing and the rest of us just went on with our lives. In the case of planners in any business, even poets, it is important to know what those tech guys are droning on about, and even ask a few questions occasionally. In the Primer of Basic IT Acronyms, the connection terms LAN, WAN, and SD-WAN are lesson one.
At the end of 2016, Corey, our IBM expert received five IBM Power 770 Servers (9117-MMC). We had them shipped from their previous installment in Las Vegas. Although IBM withdrew the P770 from the market in November of 2015, these are in no way EOL. The P770 is a server for cloud implementation. As IBM says, they are “virtualized from within.” IBM expected users to consolidate the functions of entire racks of blades or other small servers into one P770.
At the end of December, everyone looks to the trends for the coming year. Let’s summarize what everyone else is saying. In 2017, more IT managers will virtualize and more operations will move to the cloud. Security is going to be not just a concern, but also a full time position for larger IT operations. Around the office, you are going to have to figure out if you really want hook up your new “smart” refrigerator to the same network where you keep your inventory and accounting records.
Pepwave has shipped MAX BR1 mini with LTE-A. Other Pepwave and Peplink cellular devices that are LTE-A capable will follow. LTE-A is not just another incremental step, but the beginning of the next wave.
In October of 2016, Gartner issued a report on the direction things will take in 2017. The vision is forward looking, examining what will come and begin to develop. They break it into three broad categories, Intelligent, Digital, and Mesh. They include Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Machine Learning, Intelligent Things, Adaptive Security Architecture, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and Digital Twins. They all have implications for today’s connectivity planning.