NetEqualizer News: August 2013


August 2013

Greetings!

Enjoy another issue of NetEqualizer News! This month, we discuss the power of RTR, preview Software Update 7.3 and features for our Fall 2013 Release, remind you about our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration which finishes this month, and highlight our recent charity golf tournament sponsorship. As always, feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested in NetEqualizer News.

A message from Art…
Art Reisman, CTO – APconnections

art_smallEvery now and then I get a chance to get out in the field to talk to customers.  Recently I had a chance to work on an installation in Finland for their high-speed train system. It was great to get out of the office and also to immerse myself in another culture. I get to see firsthand what customers are looking for from us, and how they use our products to solve their problems.

Let me know if you use our products in a creative or unique way, or if you have a network issue you would like solved! I like to hear about your most challenging problems.

We love it when we hear back from you – so if you have a story you would like to share with us of how we have helped you, let us know. Email me directly at art@apconnections.net. I would love to hear from you!

The Power of the Real-Time Reporting Tool

Over the last month we’ve been refining our Real-Time Reporting (RTR) tool that is included in all installations running Software Update 7.0+. The RTR tool analyzes and reports on current traffic in real time surrounding two major features:

* Pools
* Active Connections

top10

The reporting associated with each of these features is much improved and more interactive than that of the standard View Active Connections report. Here are just some of the things you can do:

* View a dashboard of all your active pools and how much usage they are currently experiencing.
* Filter your Active Connections table by IP.
* Look up the country code associated with an IP address.
* See a total of bandwidth usage for a particular IP address for both up and down connections.
* Sort your Active Connections table by any column.
* See a top 10 offenders list which shows the IP addresses currently using the most bandwidth.
* Display the current status of all penalized connections. Use this interface to filter penalties based on IP and see whether a connection is being penalized.
* And more!

To access RTR on your NetEqualizer, go to the dashboard and click the “Dynamic RTR” icon at the top.

dynamicrtr

We are always brainstorming and adding features to RTR. If you have ideas on how RTR could be improved, please email us!

RTR is free to customers with valid NetEqualizer Software and Support who have systems capable of running 7.0+. If you are not current with NSS or have questions about your current unit, contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net
-or-
toll-free U.S. (800-918-2763),
worldwide (303) 997-1300 x. 103


10 Year Anniversary Celebration Still Going Strong!APconnections 10 Year Celebration

This is the last month of our 10 Year Anniversary Celebration and, as part of it, we will be donating $25 to one of four charities of the buyer’s choice for each unit sold from now until August 31, 2013. Address your bandwidth issues while helping a great cause! Contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net


Customers in the News: APconnections Sponsors Golf Tournament145x145-green

Last month, APconnections was honored to sponsor a hole at the Illinois Wesleyan 19th Annual Wellness Golf Outing. Proceeds were donated to an Illinois Wesleyan educational campaign called Transforming Lives.

We love it when we can support our customers’ charitable initiatives. Illinois Wesleyan has been a NetEqualizer customer since 2008!

Here is a picture of our hole:

neteqgolf


Software Update 7.3 Released

We recently released Software Update 7.3c.  We recommend that you take this upgrade if either of the following apply to you:

* If you are running 7.0+ with sustained loads of >=250Mbps.  We have fixed a has table issue that appeared at high volumes under intense sustained loads.
* If you are using our RTR on 7.1 and would like to use the Chrome or Safari browse, we have now fixed the issue that was causing these browsers not to work well with RTR.  We have also sped up the Active Connections and Top 10 reports.

Software Update 7.3c is free to customers with valid NetEqualizer Software and Support. If you are not current with NSS, contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net
-or-
toll-free U.S. (800-918-2763),
worldwide (303) 997-1300 x. 103


Fall 2013 Release Planning

Our fall release planning continues! We anticipate a release for the late October/early November time frame. Look for further enhancements to our Real-Time Reporting (RTR), including a new VLAN report, additional Pools reporting, more information on penalties, and expanded caching ability for more types of files and video.

We also plan GUI updates to the following:

* Show all rules for an IP – be able to look up all associated rules for a given IP or subnet.
* Choose units for dashboard display – multiple options for bandwidth units beyond bytes/sec.
* See the top 10 offenders – this is already a feature in our Real-Time Reporting tool, but it will soon be available to all.
* Priority by whois – Give priority to connections based on a whois lookup of their IP.
* And more!

We are finalized content in the next several weeks. If you have an idea for us on what you would like to see, email sales@apconnections.net with your idea.

These features will be free to customers with valid NetEqualizer Software and Support. If you are not current with NSS, contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net
-or-
toll-free U.S. (800-918-2763),
worldwide (303) 997-1300 x. 103


Best Of The Blog

Is a Balloon Based Internet Service a Threat to Traditional Cable and DSL?

By Art Reisman – CTO – APconnections

I recently read an article regarding Google’s foray into balloon based Internet services.

This intriguing idea sparked a discussion with some of the engineers at a major satellite internet provider on the same subject. They, as well as myself, were somewhat skeptical at the feasibility of this balloon idea. Could we be wrong? Obviously, there are some unconventional obstacles with bouncing Internet signals off balloons, but what if those obstacles could be economically overcome?

First lets look at the practicalities of using balloons to beam Internet signals from ground based stations to consumers.

Advantages over satellite service

Latency

Satellite Internet, the kind used by Wild Blue, usually comes with a minimum of a 1 second delay, sometimes more. The bulk of this signal delay is due to the distance required for a stationary satellite, 22,000 miles…

Photo Of The Month

IMG_1453
Summer Gardens
Gardeners in Colorado rush to grow all they can while the sun is shining and the snow is hibernating. Frequent afternoon rain showers help make the crops abundant. The only thing to fret is golf-ball-sized hail which can destroy your hard work. This is one of our staff member’s cat, Merlot, hanging out in the garden.

NetEqualizer News: July 2013


July 2013

Greetings!

Enjoy another issue of NetEqualizer News! This month, we discuss our new NetEqualizer Leasing Program and talk about improvements to both our GUI and our Dynamic Real-Time Reporting tool. As always, feel free to pass this along to others who might be interested in NetEqualizer News.

A message from Art…
Art Reisman, CTO – APconnections

I have been focused on technical projects lately, such as our 64-bit release, art_smallour new Dynamic Real-Time Reporting, and also some improvements in our NetEqualizer Caching Option (NCO). While taking a break from thinking about technology, I became involved in a leasing deal for a customer acquiring a NetEqualizer, and thought – we can do that better!

So… this month we are introducing the NetEqualizer Leasing Program, offered directly from APconnections on a trial basis. If you find this of value, we will keep this program around. Leasing gives you another way to manage your cash flow and capital expenditures, so that you can solve your network congestion issues with a NetEqualizer today.

We love it when we hear back from you – so if you have a story you would like to share with us of how we have helped you, let us know. Email me directly at art@apconnections.net. I would love to hear from you!

Lease a NetEqualizer!

We are happy to announce a brand new way to get all the benefits a NetEqualizer can provide without having to front the initial cost: the NetEqualizer Leasing Program!

How it workslease

NetEqualizer offers three leasing programs which vary based on the number of users in your network. Each program has an associated monthly fee that includes licensing, software updates, and support. Here are the prices of the three programs:

Small (less than 300 users): $300/mo.
Medium (300 to 1000 users): $450/mo.
Large (more than 1000 users): $750/mo.

Lessees can cancel at anytime provided the unit is in good condition once it is sent back.

This is a great way to get a NetEqualizer into your network for a low monthly fee and very little money upfront.

For complete details, take a look at our Leasing Program Agreement here. There is also information located on our How to Buy page.

If you have any questions about our NetEqualizer Leasing Program, contact us today at:

sales@apconnections.net


Reminder: 10 Year Anniversary Celebration!APconnections 10 Year Celebration

As part of our 10 Year Celebration, we will be donating $25 to one of four charities of the buyer’s choice for each unit sold from now until August 31, 2013. Address your bandwidth issues while helping a great cause! Contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net


New GUI Features Coming This Fall!

Over the next few months, we’ll be adding some requested features to the NetEqualizer GUI to help improve user experience and increase functionality.

Here are some of the changes you are likely to see:
* Show all rules for an IP – be able to look up all associated rules for a given IP or subnet.
* Choose units for dashboard display – multiple options for bandwidth units beyond bytes/sec.
* See the top 10 offenders – this is already a feature in our Dynamic Real-Time Reporting tool, but it will soon be available to all.
* Priority by whois – Give priority to connections based on a whois lookup of their IP.
* And more!

We are continuing to invest in adding features to the new GUI, based on user requests and all the positive feedback we have received. We are excited to continue our commitment to providing you with the best tools to manage your network. Now that many of you have used the new GUI for 10+ months, let us know if there is something that you would like to see included this fall!

These features will be free to customers with valid NetEqualizer Software and Support. If you are not current with NSS, contact us today!

sales@apconnections.net

-or-

toll-free U.S. (888-287-2492),

worldwide (303) 997-1300 x. 103


Best Of The Blog

QoS Over the Internet: Is it Possible? Five Must-Know Facts

By Art Reisman – CTO – APconnections

I had an inquiry from a potential customer yesterday asking if we could monitor their QoS. I was a bit miffed as to what to tell them. At first, the question struck me as if they’d asked if we can monitor electrons on their power grid. In other words, it was a legitimate question in a sense, but of what use would it be to monitor QoS? I then asked him why he had implemented QoS in the first place. How did he know he needed it?

After inquiring a bit deeper, I also found out this customer was using extensive VPNs to remote offices over DSL internet circuits. His WAN traffic from the remote offices was sharing links with regular Internet data traffic, and all of it was traversing the public Internet. Then it hit me – he did not realize his QoS mechanisms were useless outside of his internal network…

Photo Of The Month

pb4
Dog Days of Summer
One of our friends recently adopted a dog from an animal shelter, as she wanted a companion animal to play with her hyperactive terrier puppy. Here they are, already mimicking each other on Day 2 after the adoption. I am sure that they will both enjoy their new life together during these hot, dog days of summer!
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