Computer Software

When you use a wireless network at home, range and performance can be influenced by a lot of factors. The location of your wireless router as well as the location of your PC and/or laptop can make a lot of difference. Concrete walls also have a strong influence on Wi-Fi signals, so too many concrete walls in between the communication devices will reduce the signal strength, and as a result, the performance.

But range and obstacles are not the only possible problems with wireless networks. What about your neighbors? If they are using a wireless network, chances are, you are both using the same frequency, which would cause interference and again loss of signal quality. Since wireless internet access is so common these days, it’s better to check that too.

Here’s How You Can Improve Your Wi-Fi Network!

Depending on the location of your equipment, you can try to change the direction of your antennas. If your router has a built-in antenna, consider hanging it on a wall instead of placing it horizontally on a cabinet to change antenna direction. Most routers will come with instructions on best positioning for maximum range.

If you want to further optimize the range and performance of your wireless network, you might need to change the frequency of your WiFi communication.

There is a dedicated bandwidth for WiFi networks, in which multiple channels are defined. The problem is that many vendors configure their hardware to use a default channel. Typically this is channel 6, since it is the middle of the range (1 to 11 in the US, up to 13 for Europe).

To find out if you need to change your wireless network frequency, you need to know what channel you are using and if the other channels are better. There are many tools available for this, and one of them is called NetStumbler. The current version is 0.4.

The program can be installed with the default options. Once you start the application, it will automatically start a scan of the wireless networks in your surroundings.

In the results pane, you can see all detected networks grouped by MAC address, SSID or channel. The colored icon in front of the MAC address indicates the signal strength. Using these details, you can first check how many networks are using the same channel as you are.

You will need to know your SSID of course (either printed at the bottom of your wireless router, if it came from your ISP, or check the network settings on your computer’s wireless card).

Ideally, there should not be (too) many wireless networks on the same channel, but if there are, you want to make sure they have low signal strength.

If there are too many wireless networks on the same channel, try changing the channel to improve your wireless network range and performance. This needs to be done in the wireless router or access point.

The hardware will come with instructions on how to change the WiFi channel. Your laptop or PC’s wireless card will automatically switch to the new channel.

If you are using a laptop, you can also use the program to see where your signal strength is best. Move around with the laptop and see which location in your house has the best signal strength.

You can use the colored icon as well as the ‘signal’ columns to assess the network quality. Make sure the network scanning is active to ensure the values are updated while you move around.

Using these Wi-Fi tips, you can easily improve your wireless internet access speed, or solve problems with your wireless internet connection.

Good luck!

About the Author

PCauthorities.com is a tech-related site dedicated to providing solutions to your every day computing problems. For more free Internet Optimization tips n’ tweaks, check out what the professional IT bloggers have in store for you at www.PCauthorities.com

Article Source: ComSofts

Computers are great, but it can be frustrating when something goes wrong with them. When something goes wrong, that can be so frustrating because we all rely on our computers for pretty much everything we do. We rely on them for banking, shopping, and for communicating with our loved ones all over the world. But when it breaks, it is necessary to hire a computer repair specialist.

However, some issues don’t always constitute a computer repair specialist. Those issues involve getting rid of viruses, spyware, or other types of malware. You can usually download a simple computer program to get rid of those issues. You don’t have to pay $100 or more to a computer repair specialist to take care of the problem. The only time you should do that when it is malware-related is when you have lost files or other damage has been done to your computer.

When to hire a computer repair specialist

- Your computer gives you an error upon startup and will not let you access your operating system at all. If you are not aware of how to reformat the hard drive, then you may need a computer repair specialist to do it.

- Your computer will not turn on at all. This could signify an issue with the power supply. Unless you know how to install a new power supply, a professional needs to do it.

- If you are using all of your RAM with few processes running in the background, you may have a memory leak. You may need professional help with this as well.

- If anything happens with any of the hardware on your machine or the wireless network installation and you cannot rectify the issue on your own. Hardware can be somewhat tricky, especially if you have minimal experience with what makes the machine run.

- When the computer is under warranty, only certified technicians can take it apart and fix the problem. If you do it yourself, you may void the warranty. If it is under warranty, you can have the repair done for free.

- If you keep getting software errors and you can’t make them stop, then you may need a specialist. You might try uninstalling and reinstalling the program. If that doesn’t work, that is indicative of a bigger problem.

There are so many issues that may occur with computers. A good rule of thumb is to not do anything to void the warranty and only seek assistance if the computer issue is something that you cannot take care of on your own. You might be quite surprised at some of the computer issues that come about that people can very easily fix, but they still pay hundreds of dollars to have a professional do it.

So the next time you have a computer issue and you’re ready to throw your monitor out the window out of frustration, take a deep breath and know that there are solutions that can get you out of your predicament. If you can’t do it on your own, simply hire a computer repair specialist. It usually doesn’t take them too long to repair your computer either. Sometimes it just takes about an hour to get the job done. When it is done, you can take your computer home and enjoy your usual activities. You’ll find that it isn’t the end of the world when something goes wrong with your computer at least not anymore.

About the Author

Know that repairing a computer is not cheap, but it can be cheaper than having to replace the computer. If you run into these situations, you will need to hire a onsite computer repair service.

Article Source: ComSofts

While living in a growing age of technology, having at least one computer in the home is just as common as having a refrigerator. Most homes today will have some sort of computer equipment for either personal use or business use. With today’s wireless-equipped laptops, a wireless router and, if you need one, a wireless adapter card, even the technically-challenged can create a network in a heartbeat. This discussion isn’t about Bluetooth technology, nor does it relate to Macs.

The First Step

Workstations, printers, and laptops need a wireless adapter card installed. They’re easy to install–sometimes they’re already built in. If so, your equipment will say it’s wireless network capable. If not, remove the case from your desktop computer, follow the adapter card’s directions, and you’ll easily identify the slot the card fits into.

On a laptop, the card slot is on one of the outside edges of the keyboard half. The card only fits in one way and installs in two seconds, no problem. Once the adapter is set into its slot, Windows’ setup wizard steps you through installing the driver. You’ll get the familiar message, “Windows found new hardware.” Follow the prompts.

The current wireless protocol is 802.11. Wireless cards costs between $20 and $130. They can be found at any computer store or online outlet. The $20 card should be adequate. For a few dollars, weak-kneed users can get a pro to install the card and drivers.

Buying Your Wireless Router

Going in search of wireless routers at an office supply megastore, you’ll find them from $39 and up. They come with 4 Ethernet ports plus a wireless access point. The Ethernet ports are sockets for setting up a “wired” network, but since you’re going wireless, you won’t use them. The wireless access point is the sort of radio thing on the router that talks to your computer to make the wireless connection. It doesn’t require you to plug anything in.

Spending extra money buys more speed between router and computer, but for home use, on a small network, it’s not really relevant. Usually, a router that transfers data at 100 megabits per second is fast enough. The package will tell you the speed.

Safeguard Your Stuff

By the way, an important fact about wireless routers is that they act as “firewalls.” A firewall is software or hardware that prevents hackers from hacking into your system. The router puts an extra layer of security between you and them.

Some people claim the protection is negligible but a techie friend of this writer, with every piece of security known to man, tried to hack my network to demonstrate how feeble the router’s protection was. He said, “In 10 minutes, I’ll have your data.” Three hours later, cussing a blue streak, he threw in the towel. Good security.

Wireless – Continued

To install the router, rely on manufacturer’s directions. All routers are slightly different. For example, you’ll plug your basic Netgear router into an electrical outlet, go back to your computer and navigate to Control Panel — Network Connections. The wireless network connection icon should say you have succeeded and are connected. Your router is now talking to your computer. That’s it.

Next, choose enable encryption, which is a way to assigning a security key, like a password, to the network’s access to keep neighbors or anyone else from using your network. Gurus encourage everyone to do this. It’s not difficult to figure out.

The manual directs you to type 192.168.0.1 into the address bar of Internet Explorer. Every user manual has a similar IP address (Web address) to an administrative program for each router. It’s easy to follow menu selections on the page that comes us next. The help files are generally user-friendly and tech support is available by phone as well.

Hooking Up

With your new network set up, you add security cameras, printers, shared storage or anything else that can accept an adapter card or comes with network capability. Each item added — printer, camera, computer — needs wireless capability or a card and each shows up on the network with a name you give it – like, “new photo printer” or “Joe’s laptop.”

The best part of the whole set up is that the wireless signal goes through most walls, allowing you to work almost anywhere in your home, sans the yards of black spaghetti that used to connect you. Take your laptop n front of the fireplace. Recliner chair becomes your desk. Sip some hot buttered rum and be the envy of the neighborhood.

About the Author

Kishor Nayak is a Business Consultant working with International clients. Did you find this information useful? You can read reviews and product features of the latest networking products. Visit: http://thebestnetworkingblog.com/

Article Source: ComSofts

A strong wireless network can have a very positive effect on virtually any community which has one in place. The benefits go way beyond just simple entertainment, a strong wireless network ensures that even residents on a tight budget can remain in contact with friends and loved ones and it can provide an incredible resource for the education of students of all ages; from entering school all the way through graduate school.

Staying Safe
Communities that have a municipal wireless network in place can have all emergency service personnel online from right inside their vehicles. Laptops on board in police cruisers, ambulances and fire trucks give emergency personnel access to detailed maps of the city and will allow transmission of photos of suspected criminals and detailed layouts of buildings and houses. The laptops will also allow for silent communication between officers and other emergency personnel via e-mail and instant messaging. Wireless cameras will also allow real time footage to be transmitted from emergency vehicles directly back to the station.

Education
Community wireless networks will often allow for wireless internet connection, free of charge to schools, colleges and libraries opening up the world’s largest resource; the internet; to classrooms and students. This will allow younger students to experience activities and get knowledge that may not have been available to them for years to come, all while keeping the expense for hard copy resources down. Books, streaming videos, educational games and activities all become available to teachers and students with little more than the click of a few buttons. What would have taken hundreds of dollars worth of books to teach can now be imparted to young students on a few cents worth of copy paper.

High school and college age students also get big benefits from the ability to log onto the internet. Research papers and doctoral thesis’s can know be researched in much less time with direct access to literature that would have only been available through a University library otherwise. Students won’t have to worry about hunting down volumes that may be needed by other students and competing for time with the materials that they need, regardless of day or time, even if every single student needs the same resource it will be available via the internet.

Some municipal wireless networks are even offering a wireless internet connection for students to access at home after school hours. This means that the education can be continued beyond the school walls. Students won’t be limited to learning from this tremendous resource just during school hours; even if their family couldn’t otherwise afford a wireless connection these students would be able to continue their education at home after school hours.

Keeping in Contact
E-mail and instant messaging are incredible ways to stay in touch, even if you have to pay for a monthly wireless service to access the internet, there are many free e-mail and instant messaging services available for you to stay in contact with your loved ones from around the world; send personal messages, greeting cards, pictures and videos, for free, and it doesn’t end there. VoIP or voice over internet protocol is becoming a more and more popular way of staying in touch. All VoIP takes is some simple software, a microphone and some speakers and with it you can eliminate your standard phone service. The initial investment for VoIP is very minimal, many computer users already have microphones and speakers, and using it is just a simple as using your regular telephone. VoIP lets you talk to people anywhere in the world for free by transmitting your voice over the internet connection.

The benefits of a strong wireless network to communities can certainly change our lives for the better; a strong network can help educate our children, keep our streets safe and keep us in constant contact with all of our friends and loved ones.

About the Author

Know that repairing a computer or laptop repair is not cheap, but it can be cheaper than having to replace the computer. Similar if you have a network installation Toronto or Wireless network installation Montreal. If you run into these situations, you will need to hire a onsite computer repair service in Hamilton, Ottawa visit us.

Article Source: ComSofts

In this world of modern technology, most people prefer not to connect computers with Ethernet cables because excessive cables scattered throughout their office or home is unsightly. You can choose to install a wireless network to avoid excessive cabling. For a wireless network, there is no need to use Ethernet cables to connect your computers to the DSL or router.

Usually, a wireless network broadcast signal uses one or more wireless routers or wireless access points. The access points or router are provided with an aerial and an Ethernet port. The Ethernet port in the access point must be connected to the modem which is provided by your internet service provider, if you need internet access. If you have to move the wireless network to another place, you can simply transfer and install it in your new location easily.

You can also make a combination of wired and wireless connections with an access point or wireless router. The access point functions as the receiver and radio frequency transmitter and can interact with computers, IP Phones, PDAs and other access points having 802.11 wireless adapters. IEEE 802.11 standard of wireless transmission is utilized in a wireless local area network (WLAN). Certain other wireless networking standards such as Bluetooth are available now. However, 802.11 standard is considered as the most effectual networking solution. Actually, the aim of the developers of this network interface was to connect computers through a local area network. However, it has now been changed and a wireless network interface is also used for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and internet access.

Based on the surveys conducted so far, it is clear that you can stay connected in your network for a long period each day. If you have a laptop with a wireless connection, you can walk around your office with your laptop without losing the connection. Nowadays, certain emergency services are transferring their confidential data through a wireless network. We can consider this as an evidence for the data security which is provided by wireless network. You can send and share data quickly through a wireless network. This is the main reason why businesses and people prefer this network interface for their data sharing. Another important fact regarding wireless networks is that you can connect to the network easily even from the regions which have poor telecom infrastructure.

Some of the main reasons which make the wireless network interface popular include:

i) Convenience as you can use this network interface at home, the office or anywhere else without hassle.
ii) WLANs are available anywhere in the world at an affordable cost.
iii) If you are moving to a new location, you can transfer the interface and install it at your new location easily.
iv) There is no need for an Ethernet cable to connect computers to each other.

For a business, one of the main advantages in setting up a wireless network is savings. You can access the changes in your business in a short period of time after installing the wireless network. There is no need to spend money on cables and other equipments. The cost of maintaining a wireless network is also less when compared to other network interfaces.

Nowadays, you can buy wireless routers at an affordable cost. Also having a wireless network can increase productivity and improve the working environment in your office.

One of the main drawbacks of this network interface is that it may cause health and environmental hazards. Recent researches reported that the constant use of wireless network interfaces may lead to memory loss, poor concentration, premature senility, nausea and even the hazardous disease named cancer. Some environmental hazards that may occur due the constant usage of this interface are also reported. These hazards occur due to electromagnetic radiation coming out of wireless networks.

About the Author

Datacraft is the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, Microsoft solutions, storage and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, integration and managed services, to craft IT solutions for businesses.

Article Source: ComSofts

To keep ahead of rising costs and security issues businesses need to understand the value of virtualization in lowering their cost and making their network more efficient.

As more and more government departments and businesses have a requirement for greater control over information residing in distributed networks a solution is needed to ensure that the objectives laid out below can be met. Virtualization has had a significant impact on computing in the last few years and is still in some ways finding it’s full potential. This is due to the greater processing powers available to the system designer, allowing them to incorporate more complex and memory intensive systems.

In a modern world the need for a flexible, highly secure network is more critical than ever. The use of traditional network methods is not sufficient for today’s requirements of global access to larger and larger files and data on a 24/7 basis yet still ensuring that all this information is safe from prying eyes. This is the kind of scenario that traditionally involved significant cost and effort due to costly hardware redundancy and complex installations requiring constant maintenance and updating from the system administrators.

A typical service or application would involve a service hosted by two x86 servers, one running the live system and an inactive server designed as a backup server in case of a failure on the active one. Due to the fact that in a complex global company or government there is often a need for the critical data hosted on these high availability servers to be separated to ensure that high levels of security are maintained. This means that for each service, a pair of servers must be implemented resulting in a dramatic increase in hardware resources and those resources being utilized inefficiently. This has led to the average server utilization today being a mere 10% to 15% of total capacity, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC)

The traditional way of hosting most confidential data on networks involved the separation of services on individual physical computers and a redundant set of backup computers for each service. So keeping that in mind we could safely assume that 15 services would require 30 computers/servers. Due to the growth in desktop deployments and x86 server technology the infrastructure and operational challenges include:

Hardware Utilization. A typical x86 server deployment achieves only 10% to 15% utilization of it’s overall capacity, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a Internet market research firm. Organizations will typically run just one application on each server to avoid the possible risk of a vulnerability in one application affecting the availability of another on the same server.

Growing Infrastructure Costs. The costs of supporting a modern computer infrastructure have increased dramatically. It’s important that today’s computer infrastructure remains in a operational state at all times and this results in a dramatic increase in power consumption and premises costs that do not change with utilization levels.

Growing cost of IT Management. Due to the ever increasing complexity of computer environments, more specialized and experienced staff are required to fulfill the roles and so the costs of such high skilled personnel have increased. Disproportionate amounts of time and resources are now used on server maintenance in the form of manual tasks thus increasing the workload and staffing level even further.

Disaster Recovery Planning. Downtime of critical applications, servers and the inaccessibility of critical data for end user computers is affecting today’s big businesses and governments. The constant threat of information security attacks, pandemics, terrorism and natural disasters has highlighted the importance of a properly thought out BCP or business continuity plan.

High Maintenance Desktops. Controlling and managing enterprise desktops to ensure they are not vulnerable to attack and contain all the latest patches and updates without compromising a users ability to work effectively is complex and expensive.

About the Author

Brian is a Technical Specialist for Bee Ltd a domain acquisition and development company that has many years experience in the domain name and internet market. You will find advice on all manner of subjects associated with domains names, SEO and web development at our site: Bee.eu

Article Source: ComSofts

NTP, or Network Time Protocol, was invented over 25 years ago as a means of synchronising time critical processes over the Internet. It is one of the oldest Internet protocols still in use today. NTP allows network time clients to synchronise to an accurate time reference. Originally developed for the Linux operating system, recently there have been a number of ports to other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows.

This article provides straightforward installation and configuration information for the Linux version of the NTP distribution. It attempts to describe a simple NTP installation and goes through the configuration procedure required to provide a network time resource on a Linux machine.

The NTP distribution is a free, downloadable application licensed under the GNU public license. It can be downloaded from the Network Time Protocol website. Alternatively, many Linux operating system distributions, such as Redhat and Debian, install the daemon by default or at least provide it as a pre-configured package. As well a providing the NTP application, the distribution also provides a number of very useful tools for configuring and debugging installations. In fact the tools can be used to interrogate any NTP server, including internet based ones, to provide synchronisation status information.

NTP is configured using a configuration file called ‘ntp.conf’. The file contains a list of commands indicating which time references should be used for synchronisation purposes and also specifies authentication and security options.

To synchronise to an Internet based or local NTP server, you need to use the ‘server’ command along with the IP address or domain name of the reference. External hardware reference clocks can also be specified. Indeed a number of such reference clock drivers are compiled into the distribution by default. Many GPS receivers and radio time code receivers can be directly configured to be used as hardware reference clocks. These hardware clocks can provide an extremely accurate external source of time. Particularly GPS clocks, they can often provide accuracies to within nanoseconds of UTC. Multiple hardware and Internet reference clocks can be specified to provide redundancy in case of failure. In this case, NTP will choose the most stable clock from the list and utilise it as the preferred time source.

The NTP daemon is itself is controlled by a number of scripts to start, stop and restart the service. The scripts are simply named ‘ntpd start’, ‘ntpd stop’ and ‘ntpd restart’. Additionally, a very useful debugging tool is provided which can query any NTP server to find out its current synchronisation state and to see which reference clocks it is currently using. The ‘ntpq’ utility also provides stability information on each of the utilised reference clocks.

There are a number of security commands that can be utilised in the configuration file to control access to the NTP installation and also to provide authentication.

NTP can be easily configured so that only a specified subset of computers on a network are granted access. This is achieved using the ‘restrict’ command, which is used in conjunction with the IP address or domain name of the computer to be allowed access. Multiple ‘restrict’ commands can be specified in the configuration file to restrict access to a range of computers.

Authentication is a security feature that allows network time clients to authenticate a server that they receive time from. A matching set of encrypted keywords available to both the client and server are used to confirm the identity of the time reference. Shared keywords are specified in a file called ‘ntp.keys’ on both the server and client machines. A trusted subset of keywords are then specified in the configuration file ‘ntp.conf’.

To summarise, NTP is free to download, if its not already installed on your computer, and is easy to install and configure. Essentially, it is very east to set up a local time reference within your organisation to maintain network time synchronisation.

About the Author

TimeTools specialises in Radio and GPS computer timing solutions. Click here for more information about network time synchronisation and NTP Server systems.

Article Source: ComSofts

The latest Microsoft Windows operating systems have a built-in time synchronisations services. Windows 2000 and later operating systems have, by default, the windows time service installed, called w32time. The time service allows a Windows network to provide synchronisation of all machines within a domain. This article describes how to configure the Windows Server 2000 and 2003 time service as a SNTP server. It also shows how to modify registry entries to configure the service to provide SNTP for synchronisation of network infrastructure.

It is important to backup the registry before modifying any entries. This allows the registry to be restored to a known good state if any problems occur.

Windows 2000 has an integrated time synchronisation service, installed by default, which can synchronise to a NTP Server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings, the service can act as both an SNTP client and server to synchronise network infrastructure such as routers, servers and other time clients.

The time service is installed by default and should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is named w32time and resides in the windows system32 directory. The applications registry settings are located at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParameters

Windows 2000 can operate as an NTP client and synchronise to an NTP server by setting parameter ‘NTP Server’ to the IP address of a NTP Server.

The service will synchronise to the specified time server every 8 hours, or 3 times a day. This may not be enough to maintain accurate synchronisation. This time period can be adjusted by setting the ‘Period’ parameter to how many times a day synchronisation is required. Setting the period to 24 will activate synchronisation with once every hour. The service can also be configured to act as a SNTP server by setting the ‘Local NTP’ parameter to ’1′.

After editing any of the registry entries for the windows time service, the service must be restarted for the settings to take effect. The time service can be started or stopped from the service control applet in administrative tools. The service can also be controlled from the DOS net command:

net start w32time
net stop w32time

Windows Server 2003 has extended the original service by providing a complete implementation of the network time protocol. The service, installed by default, can synchronise to a NTP time server. Indeed, by manipulating registry settings for the service it can act as both an server and client to synchronise other network clients in the domain.

The service should be present in the systems service list. The application executable is called ‘w32time.exe’. The parameter list for w32time can be found in the registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32Time

To configure a Windows 2003 machine to synchronise to an external server, edit the following registry entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersType
Change the server type by specifying ‘NTP’ in the ‘Type’ registry entry.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeConfigAnnounceFlags
Set this registry entry to 5, to indicate a reliable time source.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNTPClientSpecialPollInterval
This registry entry defines the period in seconds that the Windows 2003 machine should poll the NTP server. A recommended value is 900 seconds, which equates to every 15 minutes.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeTimeProvidersNTPServerEnabled
Changing the ‘Enabled’ flag to the value 1 enables the time server.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesW32TimeParametersNtpServer
This parameter is used to provide a list of IP addresses or DNS names, separated by a space, of servers that the Windows 2003 machine can synchronise to.

A number of problems can be encountered when configuring the service. The network time protocol utilises UDP over TCP/IP. Therefore the TCP/IP network infrastructure must be operational for the service to be utilised. Also, issues may arise when attempts to synchronise to an inaccurate time reference are made, or if network delays are excessive.

As well as synchronising Windows servers and workstations, the application can also be used to synchronise network hardware, such as routers, switches and hubs. Any network hardware that can synchronise using NTP can be pointed to the Windows server to achieve time synchronisation. In this way the whole network and accompanying infrastructure can be synchronised.

About the Author

Dave Evans is a technical author in the field of synchronisation systems to ensure accurate time on PC’s and computer networks. Click here, to find out more about time server solutions.

Article Source: ComSofts

Whether you plan to use an MSP for ongoing operations, or you feel the IT staff is sufficiently trained to handle it in house, failure to have the proper management tools can evaporate your ROI through network outages and costly troubleshooting practices. Software patches and vendor upgrades can wreak havoc in a production environment, and should always be tested first on an isolated segment using all inclusive analysis software to assess their impact on the network.

Most companies have come to rely on their IP PBX vendors management software, and after a year or two into the deployment have found them sorely lacking. Today, IPT vendors and developers are seeing the need for a management application that takes a look at the whole network, including the traffic patterns of data and real time applications.

Analysis software packages are rapidly entering the market from such well known industry leaders as Alcatel-Lucent, as well as vendor independent software developers.

The converged network analysis solutions available to you should be assessed in the planning stage, and once decided upon, used extensively in the testing, implementation, and ongoing operations and optimization stages. Such features as capacity planning, network assessment and simulations, design and configuration are all crucial in the pre deployment stages Your analysis software should be hardware agnostic and compatible with a wide variety of PBXs to accurately measure voice use patterns both pre and post deployment.

Monitoring of ongoing operations such as real time QOS data, dropped calls and packet loss, policy based management features, and troubleshooting alerts with root cause analysis should all be included in the application, as well as the ability to interpret the data in a variety of reports.

IP address management should also be a consideration, as now that you have converged, every device – a laptop, an IP phone, even hand held mobile devices that connect to your network will be competing within your address space. IPAM tools are also becoming available from many vendors to help streamline and simplify administration.

It is the ongoing operations responsibility to assure that the benchmarks that were set in the planning phase are being met, and that the SLAs agreed upon, either in house or with a carrier, are being adhered to. With the help of the right analysis solution IT can quickly determine both, and in the case of an SLA not being met, can help find where the responsibility lies.

Network Optimization

The same software that you use for ongoing operations could prove vital to the optimization phase of the IPT life cycle. While operations and optimization are both ongoing, they are also happening at the same time, and should probably best be thought of as two different job descriptions.

The IPT converged network is a dynamic entity, with moves, adds, and changes constantly shifting performance levels in a growing organization. Much of the motivation for convergence is to future proof the network, extending its life span to avoid costly upgrades every few years.

While much of the ongoing management operation is happening in real time on the production network, optimization could and should be performed first in the test lab. The goal of optimization is to push the network, to define new benchmarks and to improve existing SLAs with specific targets in mind.

If VoIP is the voice aspect in the triple play of IP Telephony, then IPT can be thought of as just one aspect in the broader scope of Unified Communications. As organizations seek to converge all communications, both real time and non real time, to an IP infrastructure, new applications are being developed and deployed. Unified Communications cover a range of applications from audio/video conferencing, blogging, mobility, wireless VoIP, distance learning, instant messaging, wikis, collaborative desktop applications, and presence, just to name a few.

Each of these applications will require its own bandwidth and Class of Service. It is the role of the optimizer to test and prepare the network for these potentially disruptive services by allocating resources appropriately, and making the necessary upgrades. With the proper tools and strict adherence to the IPT life cycle, convergence can future proof a network infrastructure for deploying a host of unified business applications for years to come.

About the Author

Michael Talbert is a certified systems engineer with over 7 years experience in the industry. For more information on VoIP, visit the website VoIP-Facts.net, or the VoIP Facts Blog for up to date industry news and commentary.

Article Source: ComSofts

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite navigation system operated by the US military. It has a subscription-free civilian time and navigation element. The system is primarily intended as a highly accurate global positioning system. However, each orbiting satellite also has an integrated highly precise atomic clock unit synchronised by the US Naval Observatory (USNO). It is therefore ideal for providing a high accuracy time reference for network timing applications, such as NTP server systems.

This article describes how time servers obtain accurate timing information to provide a highly precise timing reference for computer network time synchronisation. It discusses how NTP servers can utilise the precise atomic time generated by GPS to provide an accurate timing reference for computer systems.

The GPS system is a constellation of 24 orbiting satellites, each with highly accurate atomic clock timing systems. The system provides global coverage, it can be received anywhere in the world. Accurate time and frequency data is broadcast continuously from each satellite. The time and frequency information can be easily received with a modern low-cost antenna and receiver device.

Time is broadcast from each satellite as Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), which is virtually identical to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). UTC time is the same worldwide; it does not vary with time zone or daylight saving time. UTC is a high precision atomic time standard maintained by atomic clocks located in national standards laboratories. UTC has uniform seconds, as defined by the International Atomic Time (TAI) institute.

Each satellite broadcasts time and positioning information as a very low-power radio frequency transmission. The US Military designates two frequencies, one for civilian use coded L1, and one for military use coded L2. The L1 frequency is broadcast at 1575 MHz (1.575 GHz). These weak radio transmissions can easily pass through less dense materials, such as plastics and glass, but are blocked by denser materials, such as metal and brick. However, newer more sensitive receivers are being developed for indoor operation.

A GPS antenna needs to have a ‘line-of-sight’ view of satellites. Therefore, a roof-mounted antenna is ideal, with a full 360-degree view of the sky. Quite often however, an antenna located on the side of a building is adequate, provided the horizon is not too obscured by trees or buildings. The antenna is essentially a signal amplifier; it boosts the received signals for transmission along a cable to a receiver. Fifty-ohm coax cable is generally used to transfer signal information between the antenna and receiver.

The receiver decodes the signals received by the antenna into a useable, easily readable format. The most common protocol used by receivers is NMEA, which consists of a number of transmitted sentences. Each NMEA sentence provides a packet of information consisting of time, date and positioning information. The protocol also provides additional information such as visible satellites and satellite orientation in the sky.

NTP servers utilise a specific receiver tailored for timing applications. Timing receivers have additional functions and circuitry to ensure a highly precise reference time. They also perform an automated site-survey to compare satellite clocks for synchronicity. Time servers also utilise an accurate pulse per second (PPS) output generated by the receiver. A PPS output provides a highly accurate reference trigger for timing purposes.

The GPS system provides an ideal solution for computer network timing applications. Using the ‘free-to-air’ system, NTP time servers can synchronise to within a few microseconds of UTC.

About the Author

Dave Evans has written a number of articles on time server and network timing. Click here, if you would like more information on NTP server systems.

Article Source: ComSofts