Google’s Fiber for Communities initiative (Think big with a gig) is a hot topic around Baltimore these days. As previous blogs indicated, Google is planning to build ultra-high speed broadband networks on a trial basis across the country. The plan is to deploy 1 Gbps, fiber optic connections directly to people’s homes. There is a big push to support this initiative and America’s Remote Help Desk is jumping on board. Learn more on how to do your part at (bmorefiber.com) Baltimore Fiber.

As stated previously, these speeds open up a new level of opportunity for managed services, hosting, disaster recovery, outsource IT firms and especially cloud computing.  Google essentially wants to advance the development of the backbone that will support their agenda.

They are stating that this is an experiment they hope will make Internet access better and faster for everyone. The plan is to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country (we’re pushing for Baltimore to be one of them). They claim their networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. And all of that at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Ultra high speed fiber would be an amazing catalyst for business in Maryland.  We agree that it’s in everyone’s best interest to bring this to Baltimore.  Though it is unlikely to get the same level of attention, it would do more for the city’s long term prosperity than for instance, hosting a super bowl.

Here’s what YOU can do now…

1. REGISTER YOUR SUPPORT: go to www.BmoreFiber.com

2. SPREAD THE WORD: tell your employees, spouses, friends, and family to do the same and for them to encourage other employees they work with to do the same.

Cisco has announced another catalyst for faster internet speeds that will make cloud computing, SaaS (Software as a Service) and off site managed hosting services and solutions more feasible.  The fuel Cisco added to the bandwidth fire is a new CRS-3 internet backbone router.  This new carrier routing system boasts impressive performance and capability improvements over the current system.  Cisco had a very rough time around 2004 with their CRS-1 router, which almost didn’t make it out of research and development.  Cisco’s CRS-3 router has 12 times the speed performance of its original CRS-1.

PC World reports Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers as saying: “At full scale, the CRS-3 has a capacity of 322T bits per second, roughly three times that of the CRS-1, which was introduced in 2004. It also has more than 12 times the capacity of its nearest competitor. The CRS-3 will help the Internet evolve from a messaging platform to an entertainment and media platform, with video the emerging “killer app”.”

This announcement has very close timing with the National Broadband Plan heating up, which promises to deliver 100mbps connectivity to 100 million homes by 2020.  Google’s Fiber for Communities initiative is also gaining steam, and the promise from Google is over 1 gigabit speeds to communities selected for their pilot program.  We’re not sure how Cisco’s CRS-3 announcement fits into all of this, but when these three behemoths (US Government, Google and Cisco) are pulling in the same direction it makes it more believable that they will reach their goals.

What we’re seeing here is the infancy of another significant evolution in computing. As these speeds become attainable the applications are endless. Technology sets and solutions poised to benefit include: Cloud Computing, Managed IT Services, SaaS (Software as a Service), Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure Hosting, Streaming Video and Audio, Off Site Backup, Server Hosting and Outsource IT Services. It’s exciting to be a part of it.

If you haven’t upgraded to Exchange 2007 yet, you might be looking to make the migration from 2003 to 2010.  If you’re ambitious, you may be ready to go from Exchange 2007 to 2010, to take advantage of one or more new features.

The primary new feature that existing and prospective clients are interested in is the new, built-in high availability feature that Microsoft says will allow you to economically deploy an email messaging continuity service within your organization.  We admit it sounds promising, and at worst, pretty cool.

Things to consider:

• Virtualization Pitfalls: If this will be a “local solution” and you’re going to virtualize the servers, they still need to be on at least two independent virtual hosts to avoid a single point of hardware failure.  Please note that very often email servers are not ideal candidates for server virtualization.
• Remote Site Considerations: If this will be a disaster recovery solution with servers in multiple locations, the number of considerations increases.  For example bandwidth for data replication, physical server access and security.
• Is it going to work? Exchange is a highly specialized enterprise communications system requiring expertise to properly implement and maintain.  Regular failover tests are 0ften overlooked, but are a necessary part of maintaining a reliable design.  Lastly this is a brand new feature that you might call “bleeding edge.”
• Unpredictable costs add up: Microsoft says this is a cost effective solution, but you may want to ask, compared to what?  Your additional costs for the increased number of servers will include some or all of the following unpredictable costs: travel, hardware maintenance and replacement, server maintenance, high availability/disaster recovery testing, solution specific administration, training, hosting, bandwidth and expertise costs (1099, Outsource IT or FTE).
• Alternatives: There are managed SaaS (Software as a Service) options such as Dell’s Message One product, or more inclusive messaging suites like Proofpoint and Mimecast that offer email continuity solutions.  They are fully managed at a fixed cost, and most importantly are proven solutions you can rely on.  Furthermore, options like Google Apps Premier for Enterprises offer a true Cloud Computing solution (high availability inherent) all rolled into the cost of the product, which is a fixed cost per user, per year.

Overall this seems like a feature best implemented after it is proven out as a preferred solution.  Even then it may only be advisable for large enterprise organizations who can truly realize the benefits and have the dedicated staff to expertly maintain the design.