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Colorful Fall Conference Comes to San Francisco [Rural Telecommunications](Rural Telecommunications Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SEPTEMBER 21-24, 2014 NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association will host its 2014 Fall Conference in scenic San Francisco, Calif., at the doorstep of Silicon Valley. Come for the educational sessions, the great keynote speakers and to learn what's in store for the independent telecom industry in the coming months. Then supplement the learning and networking opportunities with the sights and sounds of San Franciscofrom the Golden Gate Bridge to Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown. Some of the many highlights of this year's conference follow. Three Thinge If you're continuing to feel the effects of a sluggish economy, you're not alone. Eric Garland, the keynote speaker during the conference's Opening General Session, wants you to remember three things about the future of the economy: 1. We are not in a recovery. 2. Things will never be "normal" again. 3. Businesses and local economies can still grow, remain profitable and have fun at a time when things seem crazy. Daniel Ellis, director of content delivery options at Netflix, will share how the company's Open Connect content delivery network can lower costs through peering and storage. NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield will take the stage during the same session to discuss member engagement initiatives for the coming year, and she'll explain what the industry's unification means for NTCA board leadership in 2015 when the NTCA 2015 Board of Directors is introduced. If you sometimes think running a business is like climbing a mountain, you will want to hear Alison Levine-captain of the first American Women's Everest Expedition and author of the bestselling "On the Edge: The Art of High-Impact Leadership"-close the show by defining high-risk, highreward, high-impact leadership. Also during the Closing General Session, hear Chris Rivera explain how software-defined networking is creating new opportunities for your business. Neb Neubnallby and Rnchon Inabibubiona Regulations, revenue, how to run effective board meetings-those are the focus of just some of the many educational sessions taking place Monday at Fall Conference. Learn how to boost your number of business customers and how to serve anchor institutions during a session brought to you by NTCA's Associate Member Advisory Council. Or, choose "Creating You Own Model Smart Home," "Telecom Policy and Revenue Issues 101" or sessions on the IP transition and network neutrality. All are great choices on timely topics that point the way forward on issues that affect your bottom line. Tuesday brings its own wealth of opportunities for professional development. Concurrent sessions focus on the automated home, managing through difficult financial times and running effective board meetings, not to mention an FCC overview and outlook for 2014 and 2015. Tuesday also includes eight Innovation Think Tankstopic-based open exchanges on board diversity, creative partnerships, marketing tactics and tomorrow's technologies. See bhe Ciby Supplement Fall Conference learning and development with numerous options for taking in the sights of San Francisco. Arrive by Sunday for the Sonoma Wine Tour, or head to magical Marin County to glimpse its varied land and seascapes. On Monday, tour Alcatraz Island (the tour repeats Tuesday), or fall in love with San Francisco during a city tour. If you prefer to see the city on foot-and if you're an early riser-don't miss the Fun Run/Walk, SundayWednesday, from 6:15 to 7:15 a.m. It's a great way to get some exercise and get ready for what the conference has to offer each day. Meet in the hotel lobby, where the group will divide into runners and walkers. The Foundation for Rural Service will hold its Golf Outing at Tilden Park Golf Course in Berkeley on Sunday, the same day TECO/ RTAF explores "Treasured Chinatown." On Monday, the foundation hosts "Bright Lights, Big City: An Evening of Elegance With FRS"-a harbor cruise aboard the California Hornblower. Tuesday brings the Spouse Session ("Comedy Magic"), a special benefits seminar on managing the costs of employee benefits, and the Rural Is Cool Reception and Vendor Showcase. While in town, don't miss the great city restaurants, which you can enjoy with NTCA staff. Check the full list of restaurants online before the conference, and have a Dutch treat dinner with colleagues. Iowa Network Services Case Study: Kiesling Associates Relationships are the most important element of doing business at Kiesling Associates. It's their personal commitments, responsiveand local service that allow them to provide timely, quality services that exceed the expectations of their customers. So when one of their largest clients demonstrated the same business values and service models, Kiesling Associates moved their Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) to Iowa Network Services (INS).They knew that working with another local, customer-focused company would help them streamline their connectivity needs. Client Challenge While their previous MPLS system was sufficient, one of the Kiesling Associates'locations was not configured as optimally as the others, affecting call quality and data transmissions. Another driving factor was ensuring that they were receiving superior voice and data services at a reasonable price. INS Solution Kiesling Associates'single point of contacttheir INS Account Manager-set everything in motion, beginning with a full audit of Kiesling Associates'communications framework. The dedicated team of experts at INS reviewed the entire system-from network configurations and equipment to physical locations and billing-ensuring all opportunities and issues were identified. The analysis of Kiesling Associates' network identified the need for some additional bandwidth to resolve the quality and data transmission issues initially discovered. Plus, the extra bandwidth ensured continued superior performance at all five of their locations. Additionally, the billing analysis identified several services Kiesling Associates was paying for, yet not using. By customizing an MPLS solution for Kiesling Associates, wasteful spending was eliminated and the value of the service increased. INS'standard MPLS services also added value to the Kiesling Associates plan, offering a more robust solution: * INS Engineers designed a custom solution. * INS Network Operations built, tested and turned up the solution. * INS Network Operations continues to monitor and maintain Kiesling Associates' service. * INS'"one call does it all''simplifies and streamlines processes. Why INS? Kiesling has a strong relationship with INS, and it was a great benefit to them to keep their services with a local provider."INS' personal, one-on-one dedication to our success is equally important as the service provided," stated Micah Cope, Kiesling network administrator."The one time I had to contact them regarding a concern, the support personnel were great and the issue was resolved in a timely manner." The transition allowed Kiesling to continue to control how data flowed through their business.This was another significant factor in their decision to migrate to INS. Additionally, through their partnership with INS, Kiesling is able to better control their private network and the data distribution. With the one call system and INS monitoring, the two companies can quickly and easily collaborate to troubleshoot and resolve any issues. Results and Benefits Kiesling saw immediate results and benefits from implementing the INS MPLS service. "The MPLS provides a fast and highly functioning option for network traffic," said Cope."Most importantly, it has allowed us to isolate traffic that was a higher priority." Additionally, INS eliminated the unwanted and unused services, streamlining Kiesling Associates'processes and removing unnecessary billing charges.Most importantiza great relationship between two companies became even stronger. About MPLS MPLS is a modem implementation of a packet switching network, capable of carrying a mix of voice, video and data traffic. An MPLS network can take the place of your current telecommunications and information technology infrastructure, resulting in less overhead, simpler administration and improved performance. In an MPLS network, each packet of data carries a label.The network routes the data based upon the label instead of having to read the entire packet. MPLS service puts your network in the cloud. It's a fast, flexible way to configure a network. As business networks increasingly carry converged traffic (VoIP, video, data), MPLS has emerged as the most efficient way to meet the special delivery needs of each type of data. Using state-of-the-art monitoring, your data is managed and routed through the INS Network. The MPLS technology is transport agnostic, so you can seamlessly join together locations using network transport protocols such as time division multiplexing (TDM) circuits, frame relay, Ethernet or broadband access.The MPLS service uses a mesh topology, passing data from one node to another en route to its destination. If there is an INS Network interruption, our self-healing network will reroute your data. The INS MPLS solution saves time and improves efficiency through network oversight and management: * Single source for acquisition of necessary connectivity. * Support oversight for entire solutionno need to call the DSL provider in one town and theT-1 provider in the other. We manage everything-from start to finish, and for all providers.This means you have only one call to make for services and will receive only one bill. Quality of Service (QoS) management gives you the tools to leverage your network. You decide which traffic is most important and needs to go fastest. With INS' QoS, you choose four levels of priority. You can assign traffic by: * Source or destination IP * Source or destination protocol port * Protocol You may assign bandwidth as a percentage, or on an absolute level. Lastly, an MPLS solution provides mobility and connectivity from multiple locations. Off-site workers and satellite branches can seamlessly join your MPLS network through a Web-based Virtual Private Network. INS MPLS Remote Worker Access travels with your employees so they can use it from their home or on the road since authentication and installation of the private connectivity is initiated through the Web. For more information about MPLS solutions and Iowa Network Services, visit www.lowaNetworkServices.com or call 800-CALL-INS. (c) 2014 National Telephone Cooperative |