Blog Entries

A Cloud Computing Epiphany

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:00:00 +0100

One of the greatest moments a cloud evangelist indulges in occurs at that point a listener experiences an intuitive leap of understanding following your explanation of cloud computing. No greater joy and intrinsic sense of accomplishment.

Government IT managers, particularly those in developing countries, view information and communications technology (ICT) as almost a "black" art. Unlike the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, or other countries where Internet and network-enabled eve [...]

Indonesia's ICT Policy Provides a Success Story for Developing Countries

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0100

In the mid-1990s, as an operations manager with Sprint International, I worked in Jakarta to deliver a direct X.25 expansion to PT Indosat from the old SprintNet packet switching network. 15 years ago walking around the streets of Jakarta gave the impression of despair among much of the population, with large groups of unemployed men hanging around street corners. As a relatively well-off foreigner, I drew stares of both wonder and contempt. Internet access was possible through dial-up connec [...]

Broadband as the 4th Utility Gains Traction

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Broadband communications access is rapidly gaining traction as a "4th Utility" in countries around the world. Recently, at Digital Africa 2010 in Kampala, several ministry-level delegates referenced their national initiatives building the "4th Utility" as among their highest priorities. On March 16th, FCC Chairman Genachowski stated "...broadband is essential for opportunity in America - for all Americans, from all communities and backgrounds, livin [...]

Cloud Computing in Developing Country Education

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Educational development and planning highlighted several sessions at Digital Africa 2010 last week in Kampala, Uganda. Delegates from ministries of communications and commercial industry representing most African countries gathered to discuss both the current communications environment in Africa, as well as share best practices and visions for building a better future for Africa.

Justifiably, among nearly all delegates, education in developing parts of Africa held a special sense [...]

In Defense of Specialists

rdlewis@itcatalysts.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0100

(from Keep the Joint Running blog )

Management Speak: Once you've identified the members of your team who are critical to achieving your department's business goals, aim to spend roughly 80 percent of your time with the top 20 percent of your staff.
Translation: Micromanage the best, ignore the rest
-This week's anonymous contributor couldn't ignore this instruction from his company's internal management newsletter

Four wo [...]

A Tsunami of Global Disaster Communications through Citizen Journalism

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:00:00 +0100

The news started hitting California early Saturday morning with an SMS alarm on my mobile phone - a major earthquake struck Chile, and there was a potential of tsunami activity in California and Hawaii (as well as the rest of the Pacific). First stop - CNN. The news source was right on the story, [...]

Developing Disaster Recovery Models with Cloud Computing

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

How does a small or medium business ensure it can meet the basic needs for disaster recovery and business continuity? Whether it be Internet-facing applications, or Enterprise-facing applications and data, one of the most important issues faced by small companies is the potential loss of information and applications needed to run their operations.

Disaster Recovery Point and Time Objectives (from Keep the Joint Running blog )

Great Quotations: “My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.” - George Washington.
-And thanks to David Mott for bringing this quote to our attention.

Generalists, according to the old joke, know nothing about everything, as opp [...]

Hawaii Broadband - Deferred till 2010? 2011? 2012?

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

What is the common verbiage of Hawaii's broadband initiatives set in senate and house bills SB895, HB984, and HB1077?

Easy, "Carried over to 2010 Regular Session."

SB895 - 2/10/2009 Establishes the Hawaii Communications Commission (HCC), The committee(s) recommends that the measure be deferred. Carried over to 2010 Regular Session.HB984 - 5/11/2009 Implements key recommendations of the Hawaii broadband task force by establishing the Hawaii broadband commissioner (HBC). [...]

Is Hawaii a Candidate for International ICT Assistance?

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Try a search engine query on "Hawaii CIO," or "Hawaii Chief Information Officer." You might get a couple corporate links pop up, or possibly the University of Hawaii's CIO link, but the only state agency within the first two pages of links is for the Information and Communications Services Division of the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). The first impression, once hitting the Hawaii Information and Communications Services Division (ICSD) landing pa [...]

Chasing the what?

rdlewis@itcatalysts.com — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

(from Keep the Joint Running blog )

Management Speak: The company wants the analyst's report this way.
Translation: The CEO wants the report to support the decision he's already made.
-This week's anonymous contributor wanted the translation this way.

To operate a computer, you point, click, double-click, or right-click. To operate a car you push on the gas, stomp on the brake, or crank the steering wheel.

Which is why you hav [...]

Martin Levy Looks into the Future of Hurricane Electric and the Internet

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

This is the third part in an interview series with Martin Levy, Director of IPv6 Strategy at Hurricane Electric. In this segment Martin discusses the future of Hurricane Electric, IPv6, bandwidth, and global Internet development.

_____________________________________

Pacific-Tier: Can you cite one defining moment that really makes Hurricane Electric stand out as a company within the Internet industry?

Martin Levy: There are a couple of different moments.

From an [...]

Martin Levy Explains Hurricane Electric's Success in a Tough Economy

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

This is part two in a series of interviews with Martin Levy, Director of IPv6 Strategy at Hurricane Electric

Hurricane Electric is one of those rare companies that have survived, and grown in the past two years. A private company, Hurricane Electric has become one of the largest Internet Service Providers in the world, and is a leader in IPv6 deployment. In this article Martin Levy shares a few ideas on how Hurricane Electric approaches their business and continued growth.

YouTube worth watching

mark.gibbs@gmail.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

As if the whole John Edwards farce couldn't get any more ridiculous, now one of his ex-aides, Andrew Young, who also happens to be touting his tell-all book about Edwards, has announced that he 'found' a video tape of, shall we say, a highly personal nature featuring Edwards and Rielle Hunter, Edwards' infamous and now presumably ex-mistress and mother of one of his children.

Young, who Edwards at one time persuaded to publicly claim to be the child's father, [...]

What your browser says about you

mark.gibbs@gmail.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Online privacy is a hot topic and the accuracy and detail with which you can be tracked as you bounce from Web site to Web site should be an issue of great concern to both consumers and corporate IT.

Many people say they don't really care about being tracked, arguing that they have nothing to hide about where they browse and with whom they communicate, so nothing needs to be kept private.

But here's the problem: The tracking that can now be done by paying attenti [...]

Aliph Jawbone Icon, a new kind of headset

mark.gibbs@gmail.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

If you had to pick a technology, excluding software, that has caused the biggest transformation of personal productivity, what would you select?

Microsoft Office? Nope, I said not software … come on people!

Laptops? Possibly. Definitely a leading transformer for freeing us from being desk-bound, but the leading one? I think not.

OK, how about GPS? Nope, definitely huge but not the biggest. Pad- or tablet-style computers? Too soon to tell.

It [...]

Martin Levy Discusses the Global Urgency to Deploy IPv6

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

I met Martin Levy for the first time in Honolulu at the Pacific Telecommunications Council '2007 conference. After several coffees at the Kalia Tower, and an hour or so discussions on data centers, networks, and IPv6, I knew I had found a true evangelist in the Internet industry. Several more conference coffees in different locations around the world, and I became one of his IPv6 disciples.

As a senior member of the Hurricane Electric team, Martin enthusiastically spr [...]

The Need for Speed - and Big, Fat, Dumb Pipes

savageau@pacific-tier.com — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

The Europeans mock us. The Koreans boast a claim they are the world's most wired country. Finland is bringing broadband to reindeer. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published in their 2009 statistics the U.S. now ranks 15th among the group's 30 member countries for broadband subscriptions. This is down from 12th in their previous study. No way!

Is the United States actually that far behind the world in broadband deployment? Should the home of Cis [...]

Red rover, red rover, let NASA come over!

rdlewis@itcatalysts.com — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:00:00 +0100

(from Keep the Joint Running blog )

Management Speak: It looks like you’ve thought of everything.
Translation: I have no ownership in this idea, and no reason to care about it. Good thing you won’t need my help.
-This week’s anonymous contributor might not have thought of everything, but he did think of an excellent translation.

BIG/GAS stands for "Business Is Great/Government and Academics are Stupid."

It&rsq [...]