Comments for currentedtech.com http://currentedtech.com Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:30:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 Comment on Is The Cloud Real? by Aaron Grill http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-12 Aaron Grill Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:59:11 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-12 @Steve. You are totally right about the grey area we are in right now between the cloud the local server room. From the "client side" of things everything is the cloud already:) I don't think any faculty or students, if anyone at the school will know that I will not have 4 servers in or Network Office this coming school year due to moving to the cloud. Network Admins will always have a role in controlling these services whether they are local or in the cloud. It's fun watching the transition. @Steve. You are totally right about the grey area we are in right now between the cloud the local server room. From the “client side” of things everything is the cloud already:) I don’t think any faculty or students, if anyone at the school will know that I will not have 4 servers in or Network Office this coming school year due to moving to the cloud. Network Admins will always have a role in controlling these services whether they are local or in the cloud. It’s fun watching the transition.

]]> Comment on Is The Cloud Real? by Aaron Grill http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-11 Aaron Grill Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:47:47 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-11 Hi popshobby. We just signed up with Towerstream so I don't have much experience with them. So far customer service has been very good. We also signed up with Time Warner as a failover ISP as I wouldn't feel comfortable signing up with any ISP without redundancy. I contacted them after finding out our area isn't "Lit" according to Verizon. Without fiber to our building, the options for speed were limited. I then looked at the NYCIST data collection wiki (http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/NYCIST_Data_Collection) to compare what other schools in the New York area were using. I found Towerstream listed there and made contact with them. Price and speed were both taken into consideration. Also, in New York City, Verizon controls all of the copper and fiber in the streets, so going with another company is risky because if Internet in your area goes out, Verizon fixes there customers first. Verizon offered 4.5 Mbps for 1500, and at the time Towerstream offered 8 Mbps up and down for 999 and free installation. It was a no brainer. Hi popshobby. We just signed up with Towerstream so I don’t have much experience with them. So far customer service has been very good. We also signed up with Time Warner as a failover ISP as I wouldn’t feel comfortable signing up with any ISP without redundancy.

I contacted them after finding out our area isn’t “Lit” according to Verizon. Without fiber to our building, the options for speed were limited. I then looked at the NYCIST data collection wiki (http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/NYCIST_Data_Collection) to compare what other schools in the New York area were using. I found Towerstream listed there and made contact with them. Price and speed were both taken into consideration. Also, in New York City, Verizon controls all of the copper and fiber in the streets, so going with another company is risky because if Internet in your area goes out, Verizon fixes there customers first. Verizon offered 4.5 Mbps for 1500, and at the time Towerstream offered 8 Mbps up and down for 999 and free installation. It was a no brainer.

]]> Comment on Is The Cloud Real? by Steve Kinney http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-8 Steve Kinney Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:41:14 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-8 The cloud has its good and its bad points; admittedly, it has more good than bad. The good is that someone else is maintaing the equipment. In fact, many people are maintaining the equipment – each one focused on a particular service. The biggest advantage is that the network administrator no longer has to focus on replacing and updating the physical hardware. The biggest disadvantage is that if that connection to the cloud goes down, it takes everything with it – but that can also be said for certain parts of the server room. Server rooms clearly aren't a thing of the past in general – but they might be on a local level. Schools and enterprises will have to evaluate if the cost of increasing connection speeds outweighs the cost of maintaining their server room (it probably won't) and what needs the cloud fills or could fill that their existing equipment might not (most likely, lots). I think that there will be a grey area for some time. The network administrator will still play an important role either way. Someone needs to manage the myriads of service subscriptions necessary to run a full-fledge operation (be it a school or a corporate enterprise). Someone is going to have to be on the cutting edge of new services and be able to provide an insightful analysis of the pros and cons of each service. Someone is going to have to make sure that the services all play nicely together. This will not be a difficult transition, most network admins already understand all of these factors. It is easy to forget that outside a small clique of professionals, not many people have the same grasp of what the cloud does and does not have to offer. The cloud has its good and its bad points; admittedly, it has more good than bad. The good is that someone else is maintaing the equipment. In fact, many people are maintaining the equipment – each one focused on a particular service. The biggest advantage is that the network administrator no longer has to focus on replacing and updating the physical hardware. The biggest disadvantage is that if that connection to the cloud goes down, it takes everything with it – but that can also be said for certain parts of the server room.

Server rooms clearly aren’t a thing of the past in general – but they might be on a local level. Schools and enterprises will have to evaluate if the cost of increasing connection speeds outweighs the cost of maintaining their server room (it probably won’t) and what needs the cloud fills or could fill that their existing equipment might not (most likely, lots).

I think that there will be a grey area for some time. The network administrator will still play an important role either way. Someone needs to manage the myriads of service subscriptions necessary to run a full-fledge operation (be it a school or a corporate enterprise). Someone is going to have to be on the cutting edge of new services and be able to provide an insightful analysis of the pros and cons of each service. Someone is going to have to make sure that the services all play nicely together.

This will not be a difficult transition, most network admins already understand all of these factors. It is easy to forget that outside a small clique of professionals, not many people have the same grasp of what the cloud does and does not have to offer.

]]> Comment on Is The Cloud Real? by popshobby http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-7 popshobby Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:31:35 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2008/07/18/is-the-cloud-real/#comment-7 Can you tell me more about your Towerstream experience? I am a small investor who likes this company and I want to know more about how they do business. Did they contact you? Or did you call them? Did you make the choice on price alone? How is their customer service? Have you had any downtime? Where are you? When did you get connected? Thanks. I am going to post a link to this blog on the Yahoo investor board for twer. Thanks again. Can you tell me more about your Towerstream experience? I am a small investor who likes this company and I want to know more about how they do business.
Did they contact you? Or did you call them?
Did you make the choice on price alone?
How is their customer service?
Have you had any downtime?
Where are you?
When did you get connected?
Thanks.
I am going to post a link to this blog on the Yahoo investor board for twer. Thanks again.

]]> Comment on Class Is Over. The Discussion Isn’t. by Amy Bowllan http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/29/class-is-over-the-discussion-isnt/#comment-4 Amy Bowllan Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:17:48 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/29/class-is-over-the-discussion-isnt/#comment-4 My belief is that students need a voice and blogging is one way to express themselves - if it's monitored. I will be posting about 2nd grade bloggers in the next few days. I will keep you posted. My belief is that students need a voice and blogging is one way to express themselves - if it’s monitored. I will be posting about 2nd grade bloggers in the next few days. I will keep you posted.

]]> Comment on Getting Ready For NEIT2007 by Aaron Grill http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/13/getting-ready-for-neit2007/#comment-3 Aaron Grill Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:16:20 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/13/getting-ready-for-neit2007/#comment-3 Thanks, I made the theme today during a free period. Wordpress is great for that. I'm hoping to update it soon, as I'm not 100% sure I like it yet. This is just to get me off the ground running. I'm definitely putting 21apples on my blogrole! Thanks, I made the theme today during a free period. Wordpress is great for that. I’m hoping to update it soon, as I’m not 100% sure I like it yet. This is just to get me off the ground running. I’m definitely putting 21apples on my blogrole!

]]> Comment on Getting Ready For NEIT2007 by arvind http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/13/getting-ready-for-neit2007/#comment-2 arvind Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:37:06 +0000 http://currentedtech.com/2007/11/13/getting-ready-for-neit2007/#comment-2 Aaron, welcome to the blogger's world. Cool Wordpress theme. You look happy to go up to the mountain house. I am definitely excited. At the bottom of your Twitter account you can get some fancy code to throw on the sidebar of your blog so people can see your "Twits" as well. See you up there Aaron, welcome to the blogger’s world. Cool Wordpress theme. You look happy to go up to the mountain house. I am definitely excited.

At the bottom of your Twitter account you can get some fancy code to throw on the sidebar of your blog so people can see your “Twits” as well.

See you up there

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