Categories
Business events

Thanks to everyone for making #trefbash 2011such a big success

Big thanks to everyone who came to the tweetup last night. I think the general consensus is that it was a huge success. Special thanks go to all the sponsors.  Couldn’t have made it happen without you. Also the venue was a  stunner and the staff at the hotel looked after us superbly.

I’ll stick some photos up next week when I get them back from the chemist though the dim lighting was not hugely conducive to good photography with a smartphone. In the meantime if anyone else has any decent ones please could they send me them.

Also next week I will be putting up more info re the world record attempt I announced last night. Watch this space.

That’s all for now. I’ve got the day off:)

Categories
broadband datacentre Engineer

Domain Names for Sale – Protecting the Openreach Superfast Fibre Broadband Roadmap #fttc

Following yesterday’s post I can confirm that hyperfast-openreach, ultrafast-openreach and uberfast-openreach domains are available for sale for all suffixes. There is a domain name checker here if someone from Openreach wants to take a look. I can arrange purchase if they drop me a line. All part of the service. No problem.

They need to get in quick. We all know how difficult it is to bag a good domain name. It’e even worse these days because you also need to get the twitter name. It’s easy for people to hoover up twitter names because they are free. All you need is a load of email aliases.

Not that I’m encouraging you to go signing up new twitter accounts. That would be irresponsible. That’s all for now. I’m off to the trefor.net Christmas Tweetup.

Categories
broadband Business

Superfast Broadband: Openreach Launches FTTC Exchange Availability Checker Map

BT Openreach has launched its own FTTC Exchange Availability Checker map (or in BT parlance Superfast fibre broadband map). This comes over a year after a similar tool was provided on this blog. Openreach asked me to pull that map.

This new one does go some way towards replacing the one on the blog though it doesn’t go into the detail by cabinet. I may look at reproducing it using just the exchange data – it is easy enough to do.

For now I will content myself with letting you know about Openreach’s version. No grudges.

Just a couple of observations re the Domain name Openreach is using – superfast-openreach.co.uk. Following the recent discussion on prefixes I wonder whether BT has bagged the hyperfast-openreach, ultrafast-openreach and uberfast-openreach domains. They should don’t you think?

Finally I’m somewhat miffed to see that there is no date for my exchange in Lincoln although another exchange in the city has already been done.  If you live in North Hykeham you are quids in. Must be some benefits to living there I suppose.  Now Tref stop that. I can see why people get emotional over not having superfast fibre broadband.

If you want high quality superfast broadband for your business email me at [email protected].

Categories
Business Cloud datacentre

Interactive network design the Newark way

Timico network engineer using new Acer Aspire R3700 interactive whiteboardI hope these guys really appreciate what we do for them at Timico.interactive white board in use at new Timico Network Operations Centre in Newark First we build them a brand new data centre. Then we put in a state of the art coffee machine closely followed by a kennel. And now they get an interactive white board to play with!!!

I’m beginning to feel like a second class citizen. I only have a kettle, a normal old fashioned whiteboard and no kennel. Wossthatallabout?

For those of you who are interested in these things, ok most of you, Acer Aspire R3700 in use at teh new Timico Network Operations Centre in NewarkBen is modelling the latest Acer Aspire R3700 interactive whiteboard. It comes with an overhead projector (ceiling) and a shiny black box (inset). I can hear those oo’s from where I am sat.

On a slightly serious note this is all about productivity. On a slightly less serious note, where do they get these part names from? The Aspire R3700!

What would a world without decimal numbers be like? The Acer Aspire RMMMDCC. There you go. Sorted. Have a good one.

PS I have sneaked in the first photo of the new videowall in action – click on the header pic to see more. It was either this or Sky Sports and the boys chose the former 🙂

Categories
Cloud Engineer servers

What will you do if you die before me?

note that came with Cisco UCS chassis

“If I die before u i gonna write your name on the twinkling stars to show the world how much i love u”

I could just leave it at that but I’m sure you want to know more.  This was a note found in a Cisco UCS  chassis when it was delivered to the new Timico data centre in Newark. Funny  huh?!

Well with the same shipment came a UCS B200 blade that was DOA (Dead On Arrival).  Not so funny huh? Fortunately BT iNet replaced it with another in short order – well done BT iNet.

I would expect there is an investigation under way at Cisco. It is too much of a coincidence for it to be accidental.

It takes me back to my time in the semiconductor industry where chip designers used to leave little messages etched in metal in spare areas of silicon. One guy I know, who shall remain nameless, etched “live fast die young”. This was only discovered after they made the chip. Unfortunately it was on a high reliability product expected to last a very long time. They had to redo the metal mask. Expensive.

Being intelligent enough to hold down a job as a semiconductor designer he did get his grammar and spelling right unlike whoever wrote this note:)

I do quite like the idea of writing things in the stars though. The concept is doable. You just have to blank out the stars that you don’t want to appear in the writing. I leave it to you to decide how you go about doing that (micro-managing ain’t my thing).

The message would only be viewable from a certain footprint on earth but I’m assuming here that it is intended for a loved one whose location would be known to you. Let us know.  When you’re dead you can do anything, or not as the case may be.

If I were you I’d forget about it, live long and enjoy it while you can 🙂

Categories
Business mobile connectivity

I have seen the future… (mystic waily voice) #4G #digitalbritain #O2 #iPlayer

speed test using a 4G dongle from O2 shows 38Meg down 27Meg upAs I gaze into my crystal ball the mists are swirling, swirling.  Now they are disappearing. Ah, it is all clear.  I can see blue skies. I can see people dancing, holding aloft their smartphones and tablets. Waving. Everyone is happy. Where is this mythical land where the rivers flow with champagne/beer/cappucino (delete as appropriate)?iPlayer streaming Frozen Planet in HD to a laptop through an O2 4G dongle

It is here, where you and I live. In Blighty. Home.

I have just come back from O2’s offices in Slough where I had a play with 4G on a laptop. The jpg in the header photo shows the download and upload performance. The speed varies but does go as high as 80 – 85Megs down.

The laptop I was using only needed 7Megs worth of bandwidth for its day to day activities – email, streaming HD etc so there is plenty of headroom when considering personal use. It is easy however to imagine this service being used as a replacement for fixed line bandwidth where a family would certainly use up all the bandwidth available. Also who knows what bandwidth hungry applications are round the corner. They will come.

The demo is impressive. The photo inset was taken from my Samsung Galaxy 2 so isn’t a screenshot and the quality could be better. It doesn’t matter. I watched Frozen Planet streaming in HD on iPlayer – no buffering, perfect quality.

O2 has recently announced 4G trials in an area of London between Kings Cross and the City. I am taking part. Watch this space for up to the minute information on 4G.

I have seen the future. The future is 4G.

Categories
Engineer online safety security spam

Akismet is a seriously good spam catcher

Akismet is a seriously good spam catcher. I just took a look at the comments it has trapped recently. Not clicked on any of the links but there is a wonderful range of products being pushed:

pre-workout supplements, SEO, LA Weightloss (to offset the pre workout supplements presumably), healthy food ideas, free online background checks, pharmaceutical delivery service, wedding photography, kitchen appliances, custom cabinet design!, Scottish mountain biking, a bar in London for stag nights.

Some of the comments appear to be quite carefully crafted responses the the post – as if they really are relevant. Anyway I’ve just deleted 103 of them. Sorry if yours was a genuine comment and is not approved. Keep em coming 🙂

Categories
Engineer mobile connectivity

How to manage mobile network capacity for a very large crowd.

crowds at the Lincoln Christmas Market 2011Last weekend we went to the Lincoln Christmas Market.crowds walking past the cathedral entering the Lincoln Christmas Market 2011 We go every year 1 – we live just on the edge of where the market is located and can walk there easily. It’s an institution in Lincoln.

You either love the Christmas Market or you hate it. Those that like it love the atmosphere, the gluhwein, the noises and the smells. They love the variety of stalls where they can pick up Christmas presents. The location is top notch – around Lincoln Cathedral and Castle. Takecrowds in Castle Hill at the Lincoln Christmas Market 2011 a break from the walking and stop off for a beer or a coffee or two. It’s great, especially by night when the neon lights add to the effect.

Those that hate it do so for the very simple reason that it is very crowded. The market attracts north of 160,000 visitors in one long weekend. That’s great for local trade but as I said very crowded. This year I noticed something for the first time. I was able to get a mobile phone line every time I tried. No “the network is busy” notifications and frustrated repeat attempts to make contact with lost friends andcrowds on Steep Hill during Lincoln Christmas Market 2011 relatives.

On my way home I think I spotted the reason – a temporary tower with mobile transponders. The networks, at least O2 who I use, must have boosted their capacity just for the weekend. It was great and whilst I realise that all they probably want is for nobody to notice and for people to just carry on using their phones this does warrant a pat on the backcrowds coming out of Lincoln Castle Westgate during the Lincoln Christmas Market 2011 – for Lincoln City Council too.

If I can I’ll find out what kind of boost there was to mobile capacity. Everyone at the council who has anything to do with the market is busy right now.

rings over bottles - the finest sport in town at the Lincoln Christmas Market 2011And finally a photo of my favourite stall. You hand over a fiver for a small bucket full of red plastic rings and spend a minute or so throwing them in the vain hope that one will land squarely around the neck of one of the bottles and you win a giant stuffed animal. Almost an impossible feat but it is doable as the stuffed gorilla we have languishing in our attic proves. Just the one word of advice. If you do win give the prize away as quickly as you can. It will make a kid happy for at least as long as its take to parents realise they are going to have to squeeze it in the car and then when they get home find somewhere to put it!

I do have a video of the action at this stall.  The picture quality ain’t great but the sound effects are spectacular. Sounds just like the cash rolling into the tills of the guy who owns the stall!!!

1 except for last year when it was snowed off.

Categories
broadband Engineer ofcom

NZ Scientists Discover New Broadband Prefix #digitalbritain #fttp

Just when I thought I had my life in order someone from the far side of the planet has dropped a bombshell with the discovery of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB). What’s more UFB sits between Superfast and Hyperfast.

You will remember it was only last Friday I confidently announced the broadband progression as being Superfast (24Meg+ 1), Hyperfast (1Gig) and then Uberfast (placeholder for an as yet undiscovered number).

Over the weekend a pigeon arrived from Telecom New Zealand telling me that UFB is defined as a fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) broadband service providing downlink speeds of at least 100 Mbps and uplink speeds of at least 50 Mbps.

When I think of it it is blindingly obvious but

Continue reading “NZ Scientists Discover New Broadband Prefix #digitalbritain #fttp”
Categories
datacentre Engineer

It’s a dog’s life

guard dog Kennel at the new Timico data centre in NewarkThe view from the kennel at the Timico data centre in NewarkThe new kennel. Every datacentre View of the kennel from the Timico Network Operations Centre in Newark should have one.

If you are looking around for colocation or VM hosting you need to ask prospective suppliers whether they have a kennel or not. Period.

I’ve been waiting patiently for this feature to arrive and it has done so with perfect timing to contribute to a Friday afternoon blogging slot.

Mail me at [email protected] if you want to talk about hosting, co-lo or Virtual Machines.

Categories
Cloud datacentre Engineer

Chchrrrshshsh whooosh – nuff said

For those who have problem with flash.

Categories
broadband Business

B4RN hits min threshold for launch – 1Gbps Hyperfast #FTTP broadband #digitalbritain

B4RN broadband BT rural broadband reinvestment B4RN business model broadband vision

B4RN broadband reaches min threshold

It’s pleasing to note that B4RN Broadband For the Rural North has garnered enough interest for the founders to launch the company and move the project forwards. B4RN was set up by a group of people who realised that the only way they were going to get decent broadband connectivity into their (remote & rural) communities was by doing it themselves – jfdi.

Realistically for many areas of the UK this is the only way it is going to happen. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made announcements last week concerning additional funding to widen the footprint of Superfast Broadband to a lucky 90% of the population. There was an element of razzamataz in the announcement because I suspect that BT will be hitting this target without the government’s help.

You can however understand why the government is looking for good news – we would probably all do the same.  After all in focusing on investment in major conurbations the bulk of UK plc will be getting competitive broadband speeds.

In doing this though he is stretching that digital divide – widening the gap.  Shutting my eyes I can almost see the digitalderelict farm cottage - post economic collapse of the countryside wasteland. Unsaleable houses lying derelict, littering the once idyllic and bustling British countryside. Reminiscent of the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The 2Mbps Universal Service Commitment still spoken of in BDUK and DCMS circles is a risible sop. A straw triumphantly clutched and held aloft by blind pragmatists.

B4RN is run by pragmatists with vision. Desperate visionaries but visionaries nonetheless and they have set their bar not at 2Mbps but 1Gbps, easily upgradeable in the future as will inevitably be necessary. B4RN has also answered the question  concerning what comes after “superfast” broadband – it is “hyperfast”1 . Eat yer hearts out BT marketing department 🙂

I am excited for the hill farmers of Lancashire. It’s a tough old game, farming but it obviously has its rewards and now for some of them there will be the bonus of having one of the fastest broadband networks in the country. For notspot dwellers elsewhere holding on passively  limply for their 2Mbps 1st generation broadband service there is only one message.  If you wait for something to happen nothing will happen. You have to get on and do it yourself.

As a footnote whilst I don’t believe anything will come of the 2Mbps USC it is becoming increasingly clear that the government should do more to encourage investment in rural broadband. Unfortunately the disincentives are such that potential players are retreating not advancing in this market.

The formal launch of B4RN is happening at The Storey Hotel in Lancaster at 2pm on December 15th. Good luck to them.

1 I hereby lay claim to the word “uberfast” broadband, henceforth the next one up from hyperfast.

Categories
Business events

The glamour and glitz of the ISP world

line up of Timico staff on stage for the Newark Business AwardsThis post is up just so that you can see the lineup on stage as we collected our Newark Business Awards Business of the Year prize (holiday in Necker Island, Upper Class flights, Rolls Royce etc – the plaque is just for display in reception back at the office). It may be clearly seen that good looks are one of the qualifications for working at Timico1.

To my right are Saira Khan of “The Apprentice” fame and Joanna Parlby of the Newark Advertiser. From Timico are Scott Wroe, Suzie Hodges, Nadine Edmondson, Katie Nicholas, Sandra Hine, Andrew Fox, Dawn Spear and Jo Barker.

Just for reference Suzie is the one with the Brazilian headdress. She has a collection which is watered daily. We have very progressive advanced refined tastes in fashion at Timico.

1 no clever comments please – just appreciation 🙂

Categories
Cloud datacentre Engineer

A peek inside the boardroom

connect - signage at the new Timico data centre in Newark

the new boardroom at Timico in NewarkEver wondered what goes oncoffee machine dispensing a latte at the new Timico data centre in Newark inside a board room? Important decisions? Tea or coffee? Cappucino, Americano, latte?  One sugar or two?

All of the above 🙂  Obviously a lot more gets discussed as well and I am pleased to be able to show you our new accommodation. I haven’t yet decided where to sit  – another of those decisions that will work itself out as we settle in.

Timico NOC being populated with furniture prior to "go live"The photo on the left is of the development engineering area at the new Timico data centre in NewarkNetwork Operations Centre being populated with furniture. You can see it starting to take shape in front of the video wall.

The pic on the right is part of the development engineering office. This is where all the serious service platform development will happen. Visible is Group Ops Director Calum Malcolm’s office with meeting room. To the right of that is a breakout area which will have sofas etc conducive to creative thinking (and having a nap 🙂 ! )

Read it first on trefor.net !

Categories
Apps End User google

email “like” buttons

I have just decided that someone needs to invent the email “like” button. When someone sends you an email saying, for example, “that was a great blog post Tref” it is a real waste of everyone’s time and effort to reply saying “thanks very much”.

Really what we need is a means of communicating back a thumbs up or a like without the original sender having to open the email just to read the word “thanks”.

Simple.

Categories
Business events

On the occasion of winning Business of the Year at the Newark Business Awards

To the staff of Timico

Last night we won two categories at the Newark Business Awards: “Excellence in Business” and “Business of the Year”. You couldn’t all come, if for no other reason than there wouldn’t have been room for anyone else if you had. You will though be comforted to know that we had a great night on your behalf and drank the place out of champagne1.

I was quite surprised at how excited I got as they came to announcing the results of our first category – Excellence in Business. Probably not quite the same level of agitation as it would have been had we been up for an Oscar but exciting nevertheless.

This excitement was partly adrenalin from knowing that if we won I would have to get up and say a few words2. It was also the realisation that this was quite an important award to win. You might say this was “only little old Newark” but you would be way off the mark.

Newark and its surrounding districts is where we live and work and many of the people in the audience last night were our friends, customers and partners in business. The recognition that winning this award in our home town brings us is far more important for Timico than winning some national gong. It puts us on the radar locally and as we grow our company it will make it easier for us to attract good quality staff which of course will in turn help us to attract good quality customers. Wins all round.

Being recognised in this way should also attract more local customers our way because local firms want to deal with local people. We shouldn’t underestimate the amount of pride that our community has in our success in business. To be able to point at shiny new buildings/data centres at a time when other areas are struggling to find opportunities for investment and growth lifts everyone.

Then of course for us as individuals it is nice to find people saying “oh you work for Timico do you?” rather than “Timico who?”.

So I have to tell you all that I am pleased to work for Timico and I am pleased to be working with you. We have exciting times ahead. Hard work perhaps but this is a world full of opportunity and I’m sure that the recognition that we received last night will be a real help to us in moving the business forward.

Tref

PS thanks very much to the hard work of the folk at the Newark Advertiser for the tremendous organisation. It went really smoothly.

1 not the night of overindulgence this might sound – they only had the one bottle in stock! 🙂

2 for those who know me ok ok I realise that “few” probably understates it 🙂

Categories
Engineer Net video

Latest Hollywood blockbuster – assembly of video wall at new Timico NOC

Here it is, the one you have all been waiting for. After a lengthier than usual  shoot and an intensive post-shoot production period (correct me if I have my movie industry technical jargon slightly wrong) at last at online movie theatres near your desk/settee/mobile device I am pleased to announce the global launch of The Timico Videowall – The Movie”.

None of this “launch in the USA followed by a phased release in other markets” this movie is instantly available to everyone on the planet. Bring your own ice creams, beer and popcorn 1. Link here for those who don’t do flash.

.

1 Small print. The makers of this movie cannot accept responsibility for accidents happening whilst watching. In particular, for North American readers, any perceived inducement to indulge in high fat, high salt foodstuffs or beverages containing alcohol is purely for artistic effect.  Readers are encouraged to consult a qualified medical practitioner before blindly following the advice. Readers under the legal age for any of these activities according to the laws of their country of residence should refrain from participating. As far as we are aware this movie contains no foul language, violence or scenes of nudity that may cause offence to those of a more sensitive disposition. No advertisements are carried on this blog but it’s author cannot be held responsible for any attempt to sell you anything whilst watching the video on YouTube. Having said that if anyone wants to send money out of appreciation of the high quality production values associated with this oeuvre please contact me – details here. This movie was made without a grant from anyone and was funded entirely by private investment. Enjoy!

Categories
Cloud Engineer servers

Cisco UCS B200 blade server with 96Gigs of RAM #itsoktogetexcited

Cisco UCS B200 blade serverIf you have ever stood in PC World and wondered whether to Cisco UCS B200 blade server
go for the the 4Gigs of RAM with 1Terabyte hard drive or the 6 Gigs which is a little bit more expensive then cop this baby.

Personally I opted for the 96Gig of RAM with dual 10 Terabyte hard drive (expandable) and dual 6 core Xeon processors.  You get my drift?

We have ten of these in two chasses of 5 just to get going. Note the Cisco UCS B200 blade server does come with two onboard hard drives but the discerning host will of course ignore these if he is at all interested in MTBF. Everything else on the board is solid state.
Cisco UCS B200 server blade in a chassis at the Timico Newark data centre

The next picture is of the chassis front and back.

Front view just has the one blade in it at the time the picture was taken.

You can see the four power supplies (N+2) in a line below the blade (circled on the larger photo – click to see). The last two photos are the rear of the chassis fully populated with fans – cool I thought ( 🙂 ) and the schematic that is printed on top of each blade – it will interest someone.

I think these fans in the back of the Cisco UCS B200 blade server chassis at the Timico Newark data centre look really cool :)schematic diag of Cisco UCS B200 blade server t the Timico Newark Data centre

Categories
Cloud datacentre Engineer virtualisation

We are in! – new Timico datacentre

Cisco blades are being used at the new Timico data centre in NewarkAt 10am this morning, 28th November 2011 we officially took delivery
Timico development engineers review progress so far at the new Data centre of a datacentre. Not quite the same impact as the ceremony that ended the first world war (10th hour of the 28th day doesn’t sound quite the same as 11th hour of the 11th day) but hey…

I’m not even sure there was a physical ceremony. If there was I wasn’t there but the new build is certainly buzzing with engineers doing their stuff.
EMC storage now in situ at new Timico data centre

Progress is going to be rapid now with the official launch/opening ceremony due on Wednesday 18th January. The box on the right is one of the EMC SANs I showed being delivered on Friday.

The initial environment will have Juniper in the core network with VMware running over Cisco Nexus and EMC. I’ll post more detail on this as we get nearer launch though if you urgently want to know more drop me a line at [email protected].

Timico is using Juniper in the core network of its new data centre in Newark

Categories
Cloud datacentre Engineer

Psst wanna buy a Storage Area Network? #SAN #EMC

EMC SAN arrives at Timico offices in Newark for installation into new datacentre

When a man in a white van turns up at your place offering you a good deal on a Storage Area Network what do you do? In our case we were expecting him to turn up though I suspect he had no idea what was in the boxes.

I wouldn’t normally bother writing about this but the delivery caused a flurry of excitement amongst the engineers in the office that I felt compelled to do so.

Also quite a few people at the LINX75 meeting mentioned they were following the progress of the data centre build so now that it is getting to the technically interesting bit it seems reasonable to post stuff as it happens.

I’ll put up some more photos when the kit is unboxed. Oh and also it won’t be long before I’ll be saying “Psst wanna buy some storage/virtualisation/hosting/colo etc etc”.

If you are interested in knowing more or want to use some of these services drop me a line at [email protected].

All the best.

Categories
datacentre Engineer

That first cup of tea is always the best #Timico #Datacentre #10GigE

Ian P Christian clenches his fist in a victory salute having installed the first server in the new Timico Data Centre in Newark, Notts

Tref pretends to greet visitors at reception of new Datacentre in Newark

First cup of tea in new Timico Datacentre in Newark

Two cups of tea in the kitchen of the new Timico Datacentre in Newark

First cups of tea in kitchen of new Timico data centre in NewarkSome more photographic action from the new data centre – we get the keys next week and today we have been in doing some preparation.

Firstly we installed a small server with some basic utilities to get us up and running when the meaty kit arrives on Monday.

 

Then we made a cup of tea – the first in the new kitchen – yay.Will Curtis installs a switch at the new Timico Datacentre

OK question for you.  How many engineers does it take to install a switch? Click on the photo of Will to find out.

Last but not least ever wondered what a 10Gig fibre connection looks like? Well prepare to be disappointed – see below.

10Gig fibre

Categories
Business piracy surveillance & privacy

EU Court of Justice rules it illegal to block “illegal” file downloading #Scarlet #SABAM

The EU Court of Justice has ruled that it is illegal to block copyright infringing file downloading on the basis of  the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or impart information.

This  concludes a long running (2007) Scarlet-SABAM court case in which  Scarlet, a Belgian ISP was ordered by a national court to implement technical measures to block all P2P traffic that infringes rights held by the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers (SABAM). The ruling also supplements a previous legal opinion on the subject by a EU High Court Judge that was not in itself binding in law.

This is a major milestone in the online Intellectual Property/Copyright saga and must surely bring into question the recent Newsbin2 judgement in which BT was required by a court to block access to the website that promotes the unlawful distribution of copyrighted material.

Proponents of internet blocking have already recently been acknowledging that in itself web-filtering is not a silver bullet. This is a softening of their previous hard line though it hasn’t stopped them seeking to implement filtering as “Newsbin2” shows. With today’s judgement from the European Court of Justice will this finally stop  Rights Holders attempting to do this?

It will be interesting to see what happens next…

PS I am not against the ownership of Intellectual Property but this whole subject needs approaching in a fair and proportionate manner.

Categories
competitions Engineer

Is Your Aging Terminal Emulator Putting Your Applications at Risk? #catchymailshotheadlines #anotherwinatimicomugcompetition

There isn’t much to this post other than I like the title. It came from one of the many junk emails I get daily – 12 today in that category. I must stop leaving my business cards at trade shows – I never win the iPad anyway.

This particular title isn’t very catchy which is why it stood out. Usually it’s all about “deploying this”, “helping staff with that” and sometimes it has to do with “the other” though the spam filter usually catches that kind of email. In fact they are very rarely catchy titles.

I am gradually unsubscribing from these mailing lists though it’s probably a battle I will never win.

Anyway I figured it would be a good idea to run a competition for the least catchy junk email competition – real or imaginary. Sometimes I get a huge response to these competitions and sometimes nothing. Doesn’t stop me coming back for m0re though 🙂

As usual please leave your entries as comments. Kudos but no mug to anyone guessing the name of the sender of the email in the post title.

Categories
broadband Engineer Net olympics

Olympics Broadband Numbers BT Style – #Olympics #LOCOG

Usain Bolt - billions of fans want to see him win at the London 2012 OlympicsThree years or so ago someone placed an order with BT. Uhuh!  But this was no ordinary order. The order read something like this:

  • 80,000 connections across 94 locations
  • 4,500 miles of internal cabling
  • 60Gb per second available bandwidth
  • 1,800 wireless access points
  • 16,500 telephone lines
  • 14,000 SIM cards
  • 14,000 cable TV outlets

Juicy eh?  If you were a BT salesman taking that Olympics broadband order you would be planning your retirement. Unfortunately it isn’t that simple.  This is what BT is providing for the 2012 London Olympic Games and the order was probably taken by CEO Ian Livingston himself1 .

There are other interesting numbers to dwell on.

Continue reading “Olympics Broadband Numbers BT Style – #Olympics #LOCOG”
Categories
broadband Business internet media video

Netflix UK Launch Planned for 9th January, 2012 – Another Injection of Broadband Internet Growth

2012 is expected to be a big year for growth in broadband Internet use in the UK. We have the Olympics, para Olympics, the Queens Diamond Jubilee, Wimbledon and the West Indies, Aussies and South Africa over on cricket tour (if I was them I’d be avoiding this country next summer but hey…). Oh and let’s not forget the European football championships from 8th June til 1st July. England qualified I believe?! 🙂

There is more sport but by far the biggest Internet traffic news item for 2012 is that Netflix is coming to the UK. For the uninitiated, Netflix is a movie screening service in the USA that accounts for something like a quarter of all Internet traffic in that country.

At LINX75 today the launch was a particular subject of discussion

Continue reading “Netflix UK Launch Planned for 9th January, 2012 – Another Injection of Broadband Internet Growth”
Categories
Business charitable

Meet Andrew North – modern man and all round good egg #childreninneed

meet Andrew - a butch kinda guyMeet Andrew, a butch kinda guy. He likes shooting Timico Account Management Director Andrew has his nails done for Children in Need and has been known to jump out of planes “just for fun”.

Andrew is clearly a happy go lucky bloke and nothing excites him more than getting ready for a night out at the weekend. This weekend is a big one. It’s Children in Need.

Andrew really likes to sit in front of the TV watching all the celebrities doing their bit to empty your pockets and raise cash for a worthy cause.

Timico Account Management Director Andrew North has his nails done to raise money for Children In NeedAndrew though is no couch potato and today has got off his butt to raise some cash himself. In fact as you can see from the pics he has gone more than the extra mile.

Andrew has gone and had his nails done.

It took a whip round to do it. It’s funny how the whole company responded to the challenge opportunity. The £145.18 was raised in no time at all.

As you might imagine it took Andrew some getting used to,Timico Account Management Director Andrew North has his nails done to raise money for Children In Need especially the drying bit. There was some serious wrist action going as you can see from the photos and no small amount of puff.

Anyway he got there in the end and has been strutting round the office proudly showing off his nails to everyone generous enough to have donated.

The lad has promised to keep the varnish on for the whole weekend so that his mates down the Rose and Crown on Saturday night can take a butchers. Perhaps they will buy him a pint – he deserves it. They should at least add to the donations already made.Timico Account Management Director Andrew North has his nails done to raise money for Children In Need

The last photo is in stark contrast with that of the header where he is trying to look tough.

In it he is obviously a happy chappy and has already worked out the best position to hold his arm to display his nails to best effect.

Well done Andrew, proud to be your workmate.

Well done also to Kirsty Watt, the ingenious instigator behind the important fund raising initiative. She is evidently a talented Timico Account Management Director Andrew North has his nails done to raise money for Children In Needartist 🙂

Meet Andrew North – modern man and all round good egg.

Categories
Cloud datacentre Engineer

Where there is technology there is art

sign above entrance of new Timico data centre in NewarkI am often asked for updates on the progess of the new Timico data centre in tidy cabling at the new Timico data centre in NewarkNewark. This is most easily done in pictorial fashion.

It’s nearly done. We are moving kit in. No desks yet but there is now a steady stream of engineers popping over, doing stuff.

the desk in reception at the Timico data centre in Newark We have a reception desk. More like Tardis console without the bit in the middle going up and down. Obviously the reception area is still work in progress but first impressions are important and it aint looking bad.

Some of these photos have been chosen exclusively for their artistic qualities. The patch panel below for example is worthy of the Tate Modern though quality of the photography probably leaves a little to be desired – I’m not a trained photographer you know.patch panel or work of art? - the Tate Modern beckons The photo of the cold aisle is a development on the last one I did which didn’t have the enclosures and attracted comments about inefficiency. This one shows the door at one end and you can just about make out the fact that the aisle has a roof on it.cold aisle - a cool place to be at the Timico Newark Data centre

Two more pics to go. This first one is a bit of the coffee machine in the coffee machine, vacuum cleaner or missile component?first floor kitchen. It reminds me of the Graham Green novel “Our Man in Havana” who was supposed to be sending back photos of secret Cuban missile parts (or simlar) but which in reality were components of a vacuum cleaner. If you look at it from the right angle it could be a missile part (or a vacuum cleaner) 🙂 .

I will say the NOC engineers are going to have to look out for caffeine overdoses because this dispenses the real mcoy in volumes and free of charge. There is also a tap for boiling water – no more frustrating queues Tref holding some cables at the Timico Newark data centre in the kitchen waiting for the kettle.

And finally a picture of me holding a bunch of cables. I’m not going to give you any clues about the cables because are goingto be plugged into something uber impressive and you will have to wait for that.

Oh and there is one more I forgot – no data centre is complete without it’s Dyson blade dryers and here they are in high speed action 🙂
Dyson blade driers in action at the new Timico data centre

There you go – a data centre update 🙂

Categories
Business Cloud virtualisation

Looking for a pre-sales engineer for data centre environment

If anyone knows a good pre sales engineer from a hosting/data centre background then I’d be grateful if you could put them in touch.

Skill sets are vmware, virtual desktops, Citrix, hosting – that kind of stuff. The job comes with lots of perks including being featured on this blog (probably) and if they can get in quick enough they can come to the trefor.net xmas bash which is sold out and therefore a really hot ticket 🙂

Ta

PS a Timico mug goes to the person with a successful referral. Now there’s an incentive…

Categories
Business Net piracy Regs

Has BT got rural broadband market stitched up? Geo thinks so

Fibre networking company Geo today withdrew from BDUK’s Broadband Framework and from future NGA procurements. Rather than simply regurgitating Geo’s Press Release on the subject you can read it yourselves here. In summary though Geo is saying that BT has this market stitched up.

I have to say I feel sorry for UK citizens living in “the final third”. You can’t blame BT – they are just looking after the interests of their shareholders. I think you can blame the Government which is taking the easy route. Admittedly foremost in the mind of the Government will be cash, or lack of it and the need to be seen to be spending it wisely.  BT appears to have done a good lobbying1  job in persuading the establishment that sticking with BT is in everyone best interest.

It will be worth seeing how other players hoping for a slice of this market progress. This seems a good time to revisit the idea of splitting Openreach away from BT and turning it into a mutual, owned by the ISP industry.

That’s all.

1  This is in stark contrast to some situations such as the Digital Economy Act where BT did a very poor lobbying job and is now paying the price.

Categories
End User fun stuff

Now you see it now you don’t

It’s dark out (hence the somewhat cryptic title) and I can see the lights on in other buildings in the business park. In fact I can see lights pretty much all the way on my drive home. That’s 18 miles through Lincolnshire countryside. There is something not right about that.

I quite like the dark nights though even if they do make you think it is going home time around 4pm and then you find out there is an hour and a half still to go.

The dark nights make the living room seem nice and cosy, especially with a fire lit in the grate which I might do tonight. Who needs central heating?!

Tonight I’m picking a couple of the kids up from orchestra rehearsals on my way home. It makes me feel good

Continue reading “Now you see it now you don’t”