Despite the high quality signal of a Peplink router, the best way to maximize connection speeds and throughput are with the right antenna. Recently our colleagues in The Netherlands did a simple test of the same Peplink hardware with three different antennas and found that the right antenna can double connection speed on the same network, with all other connections the same.
If you find yourself at a party with a person who will not stop talking, try asking, “What do you know about this ‘Internet of Things?’” Most people will just stare back, confused. For all the buzz, there is not much clarity. The Internet of Things, or IoT for us insiders, is really more of a concept than a technology. It isn’t something you can buy, invest in, or hold in your hand. The term itself was coined in 1985, six years before there was a World Wide Web and back when the word Internet just meant a network between computers, the same way Interstate means a highway connecting two states. It seems impossible that when Peter T. Lewis used the phrase at an FCC conference he had any idea that it would take on its current meaning.
Last week the world learned that Cloudflare servers have been leaking data for as long as five months. Before this, Cloudflare already had its share of controversy. In 2013, they were accused in a roundabout way of giving aid and comfort to the enemy because nefarious websites were found to use their service. Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Prince responded in a blog post, “Cloudflare and Free Speech.” He argues that it is not Cloudflare’s role, or place to evaluate and police content on the websites that pass through their servers. Cloudflare has a good case. Again, in 2015, the hacking group Anonymous made the claim that Cloudflare was “helping” ISIS because they found ISIS related sites also using Cloudflare. The Cloudflare CEO called the claims “Absurd,” and in a way, he’s right. When we find out that ISIS terrorists use iPhones, we don’t think Apple is helping them. While the claim that Cloudflare “supports” ISIS is absurd, in light of the data breech, it may matter that Cloudflare is so widely used by an unvetted range customers.
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.
