Speed Does Matter.

A speed test measures the last-mile speed of your connection – the value promised by your service provider – using a server that is geographically closest to you.  It will not measure the actual transfer speed of a file over the internet.  No matter how fast your provider’s network is, your connection will only be as fast as the last mile.

Speed tests have access to servers around the country.  To get the most accurate speeds try running the speed test to 3 different servers. Be aware of potential CPU load, which could be a cause for intermittent slowness. To change your server for the speed test on http://www.speedtest.net, it’s a few easy steps.

Step 1 – You will see a map of the United States with stars and triangles on it. By hovering your mouse cursor over the stars you can see the servers for that star.

Step 2 – Please select a server by highlighting the server and clicking on it. This will begin you speed test for that specific server.

Step 3 – To run another speed test after the first one has finished, you will see on the upper right hand side of the United States map “New Server”. Please select “New Server” and this will take you back to the United States map with the stars and triangles and we can go back to Step 1.

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Here are some interesting facts – be aware of how fast or slow your speeds really are. 

WOW!  10 mbps Download and 2 mbps Upload!  That’s amazing!!  Right?  At those speeds I should be able to download an entire DVD in…

 1 DVD = 4 Gigabytes

4 Gigabytes is 4000 Megabytes

So at 10 Mbps the math would be 4000 / 10 = 400 seconds!  WOW!!  An entire DVD in 6.6 Minutes!

 Actually no.  You see, here’s the problem.  Mbps does not = MegaBytes per second.  Mbps = MegaBits per second.

 Let’s quickly get familiar with the Math of the Verizon FIOS Ad above using 10 mbps:

Speed	KiloBit	KiloByte	MegaBit	MegaByte	GigaBit	GigaByte
Abbreviation	kbps	KBps	mbps	MBps	gbps	GBps
10 mbps conversion	10000	1250	10	1.25	0.01	0.00125

Reference:  Numion.com has a GREAT Data Unit converter I highly recommend!

Do Not Post Vacation News!

Cybercriminals are ever more using social media to search out burglary opportunities. These thieves watch for information about upcoming or current vacations and time their crimes for when homes will be empty. When users of Facebook, Twitter, foursquare, and other social media sites post when they will be (or are) out-of-town, they run the risk of unknowingly making their homes prime targets for burglary.

Thieves get this information in several ways:

Facebook: Say your status reads “Can’t wait for Monday, starting week-long trip to the Caribbean.” If you haven’t adjusted your privacy settings, this information can be seen by all of your Facebook friends. But beware that even if your privacy settings are secure, people who can see it may decide to “share” or pass on the information to others who might be disreputable.

Twitter: On Twitter, anyone can “follow” you without your permission so you have no control over “who sees what” as you do on Facebook. A tweet like, “Stopping in Omaha on our long drive to Denver” lets everyone know you are not at home.

Foursquare: This application is meant to let people know where you are. If you live in Boise and you have checked in at a restaurant in San Francisco, that’s a huge tip-off to anyone who wants to get into your home without you there. And foursquare is doubly dangerous because you have the option of sharing your activity on Facebook or Twitter.

To protect you, post as little as possible about your vacation plans, and ask others not to talk about trips before they happen or while in progress. Remember, you can tell everyone about your vacation when you return. If you’re simply too excited to not post your plans on Facebook, be sure your privacy settings are secure. To do this, in the upper right-hand corner of your Facebook home page, click Account and select Privacy Settings. Then click the Customize Settings link, which will take you to a page where you can specify what others see.

Coca Cola in the Community

As most of you know, North Dakota has been hit hard with flooding this year.  Bismarck & Mandan have seen historic flooding, while Minot and surrounding communities broke the 1969 flood record.  Many people have lost their homes and are displaced, too many to count.  But there is something that we can do. 

America Is Your Park is a program that encourages people of all ages to get active in the park this summer. In the process, people can vote for their favorite national, state or local park to win a recreation grant up to $100,000 from the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative. These grants will be used to restore, rebuild or enhance places within the park to play or be active.

Only one park will receive the title of “America’s Favorite Park” but grants will be given to the three parks that receive the most votes by September 6, 2011. Grants will be awarded in the following amounts: First place – $100,000, Second place – $50,000 and Third place – $25,000. These grants are made possible by the Coca-Cola Live Positively initiative.

We are asking you to go to www.livepositively.com and vote for Oak Park in Minot, ND.  Help out their community today.  Remember – you can vote as many times as you want up until September 6, 2011.  Good luck Minot!

What’s your backup strategy?

We all know the important concept of having onsite or offsite backup.   Files accidentally get deleted, or hardware in a server fails, and data critical to businesses gets damaged or disappears and etc.  Believe it or not there are businesses out there that don’t backup their computers on a regular basis.  Most businesses don’t have the time or resources to backup data as often as necessary.  This is where BTInet comes into place.

 BTInet offers backup to disk and backup to tape.  Check out our options and which one will best fit your company. 

If you are in the market for offsite backup – be sure to look for the following characteristics:

* It must be physically secure. Our private fiber between our data center and our backup facility, allows us to store your back up data in an offsite facility without the risk and delay of using a tape courier. This maximizes the physical security of your data.

* It must have sufficient distance away from the original site. Our backup equipment is located in a steel reinforced concrete building separate from our data center that is designed to withstand an F5 tornado.

* It must be in a naturally safe zone.  See above.

* It must be verifiable and accessible. Periodic testing of backup restores is needed, to ensure that the system works and your backup data is preserved and can be reached quickly to recover when something happens to your main backup location.

 

 

Taking Your Business to New Heights

 

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