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.

Consumer Bill of Rights for Software Updates


This morning I attached my iPhone to my Mac so I could import some of my latest Thanksgiving pictures. I have done this particular sync perhaps a 100 times in the past, but today I was in a hurry and wanted get everything on my Mac so I could  shoot an e-mail out with the new pictures. Yes I know it is possible to send email from an iPhone directly, but the tiny little box of screen is like working with my eyes closed and my hands behind my back.

Upon initiating the sync, my Mac informed me that something needed an update to complete the operation, not sure why, but it was adamant there was no other way. I clicked the update button and 20 minutes later the update was still running so I gave up. Have you ever wanted to scream “I DON’T WANT THE UPDATE! I AM COMPLETELY HAPPY WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE!” Shortly after this incident, I remembered how congress had passed a bill rights for airline passengers. I suspect as our electronic equipment becomes essential to every day life, somebody is going to come along with a bill of rights for technology users, so I thought it would be a good time to get a head start.

Bill of Rights for updates to smart devices:

1) Tell the user how long an update is going to take before they click a button. If you don’t know how long it will take, then make it a two step process where step one calculates how long it will take, and step two is the update.

2) Give the user an easy option to see what is in the update before they click.

3) Never force a user to take an update unless there is some radical change in technology that requires it.

4) Give the user the option to cancel the update in progress at any time without any consequences.

5) Don’t let your engineering team make some lame excuses as to why you can’t follow the Bill of Rights above. I would be glad to come in as consultant and help make your update process follow the Bill of Rights, and yes I can write the code if needed.

* Yes I am guilty of not always having the best update process for our product line. However we are getting much better. :)

7)  Don’t make a user close applications during the update. If you can’t figure out how to update your software with my applications open than see 5) above.

8) These rules apply to smart TV’s and cable boxes – I missed the first 5 minutes to a big game last year while my visio TV updated itself.

Coming soon the Bill of Rights for truth in Bandwidth Speed and why the Internet is not intended to run video.

The original Computer Users Bill of Rights.

Related Internet Users Bill of Rights

%d bloggers like this: