Pink Connect Blog

Archive for the ‘Broadband’ Category

Net Neutrality.  Many of you may not have heard this term before, but it is a term that may become very common in the new decade.  Simply put, it is an extension of “freedom of speech”.  As the internet becomes more and more common, the quality of service will drop correspondingly.  Back haul networks will require a higher bandwidth throughput, and datacenters will require increased capacities.  To stop this occurring, some people have brought forward a tiered system where users will pay more for better access, and those who pay less will be restricted from certain services and/or have less prioritised connections.  This would go against all the principles of Net Neutrality.  Many high profile figures have spoken out in favour of Net Neutrality, such as Tim Berners-Lee, who is generally acknowledged as the creator of the Web.

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R.P.Lovatt Insurance have again chosen their long term Communication suppliers Pink Connect in a deal that includes all lines, calls, mobiles, phone systems, ADSL and IT infrastructure. With this deal, Marc Lovatt has fixed the cost of his partnership’s Communication and IT budget for the next five years. Marc said “Pink Connect have been our chosen suppliers for over eight years now. As we have grown they have expanded our systems ahead of demand ensuring we always have the tools for the job. I am delighted to have secured their comprehensive services at a fixed cost with this innovative agreement. I recommend Pink Connect to any company wanting the best solution for their business communications”.

Have a look at the back of your TV.  How many wires can you see?  Three, four, maybe more if you have several devices plugged in.  Of course each device will have a power cable, and a video and/or sound output.  And maybe a network connection in the case of Blu-Ray Players, and consoles.  This all makes quite a mess, but have no fear, the back of your TV, your PC, or whatever other video devices you may own will soon be much tidier, with the introduction of HDBaseT.

What is HDBaseT?  It is the same cable you use to connect to the internet.  Old technology… on the way out – or is it?  HDBaseT Alliance, the standardisation committee for 100BaseT ethernet cable, and now the new HDBaseT standard, are relaunching the humble cable as a solve-all solution.  One cable will be able to supply 100Mbit/s Networking,  HD video, Lossless (HD) Audio, Control Signals (like a remote control) and most importantly up to one hundred Watts of power.  I am sure you have already realised the implications of this, but I will go through a few benefits of this new technology.

Imagine you get your office cabled with Cat5e, sockets all along the walls.  Into these sockets you can plug in almost anything, without worrying about power supplies, or stretching other cables.  Projectors, screens, even small laptops could be easily moved from room to room as required, without the hassle of power cables and transformers.  Plug in a single cable and you get access to everything you need.  It would be easy to set up shared resources such as DVR/Blu-Ray or other video devices and then access them from any room linked into the same network, without moving the device.

One area this technology could really become useful is CCTV systems, where a single cable can run out to each camera, carrying everything necessary.  Cameras could be easily moved on a random rotation, simply by plugging into a close Ethernet port.  Network attached storage devices are another technology which would benefit, and could be easily moved around the building, no longer needing to be close to a power point.  More advanced telephone systems could all be connected with a single cable.  The potential for a connector like this is limited only by our imagination, and we can think up some crazy things!  Whatever business you are in, HDBaseT cabling will most likely be in your future.

Management consultancy McKinsey has identified 10 technology trends that will force executives to anticipate and respond to their effects on their enterprises.

• Distributed co-creation moves into the mainstream
• Making the network the organisation
• Collaboration at scale
• The growing “internet of things”
• Experimentation and big data
• Wiring for a sustainable world
• Imagining anything as a service
• The age of the multisided business model
• Innovating from the bottom of the pyramid
• Producing public good on the grid

McKinsey said it identified emerging internet technologies, increased computing power, and fast, pervasive digital communications as key forces changing the management landscape back in 2007.

“Since then, the technology landscape has continued to evolve rapidly,” it said. It noted that Facebook has quintupled in size in two years to touch more than 500 million users. More than four billion people now use cell phones, and 450 million access the web from a mobile. Read the rest of this entry »

PerCap Recruitment is a company specialising in the IT and Finance sectors so its fair to say communication is at the very core of its business and its massively important they are getting what they need in this respect.

After experiencing problems with their phones and a poor broadband speed they first of all  turned to BT for help only to find it was impossible to speak to anyone who would help them or even understand their problems and what a serious effect it was having on their business.

So they turned to Social Media….

A few “tweets” later and posts on the LinkedIn group asking who others recommend and Pink Connect’s existing customers had made it very clear to PerCap who they should be speaking to… and within 5 days they were under Pink Connect’s capable wing.

Amberley Worton, Director for the firm said the following…

“Customer Service was our major reason for looking else where and after being recommended Pink Connect by other businesses using LinkedIn we haven’t looked back. It’s great to know that if we have a problem, I can call my account manager – a real person with a direct landline and a mobile phone number, and I know they will resolve it for us.

Since moving our broadband to PinkConnect from BT, we have noticed a much faster, and much more consistent service. Broadband is key to our business and it used to be a source of huge frustration when our connection regularly dropped with BT. Our phone service is also now reliable, and we’re even saving money on both services now that we’ve made the switch.

At the time our service was transferred it showed up a fault on our line, which could have caused us huge problems by rendering our phone line and broad band out of service. Fortunately for us, Pink Connect called out an engineer immediately and the fault was resolved very quickly – something which I very much doubt would have been resolved so quickly had we still been with BT.”

If anyone needs a recruitment agency in the East of England who specialise in IT & Finance and deliver a highly regarded personal service please get in touch with the team at PerCap on 01206 544966

To get this level of service for your business and save some money in the process, give Pink Connect (Norfolk) Ltd a call on 01603 510710 or hook up with them using the following Social Media buttons….

Original article from BBC

Britons are not getting the broadband services they are being sold, research by the regulator Ofcom suggests.

Its analysis of broadband speeds in the UK shows that, for some services, 97% of consumers do not get the advertised speed.

It also shows a growing gap between the claims ISPs make for broadband and the speed being delivered.

To fix the problem, Ofcom is revamping the code of conduct for ISPs and asking for changes to how broadband is sold.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Pink Connect has been providing our phone lines and broadband connectivity for BBC Question Time since September 2007.  The challenges that Pink Connect have faced in providing this service have been many.  We are a programme that switches locations regularly with very little notice and Pink Connect have never failed to provide the service I require.  All I have to do is let Pink Connect know the venue and everything else is done for me.  I turn up on the day, plug in my router and my whole team are wireless within minutes.  Pink Connect initially came along to a programme to see what was required of them, provided all the equipment and taught us how to set it up.  If I have any problems they are at the end of a phone talking me through.  All the staff at Pink Connect are professional and I would recommend them to anyone”. Daniele Lloyd, Head of Production, BBC Question time.