Giant ISPissing Match Today
Alexander Muse , October 31, 2008
Cogent and Sprint decided to disconnect the internet today. Cogent Communications, a global ISP carrying more than 17% of worldwide internet traffic and Sprint carrying 12% of worldwide internet traffic are no longer sending traffic to one another.
According to Om Malik, “It is no longer possible for many Sprint customers and Cogent customers to directly communicate across the Internet,” Cogent said and alleged that Sprint was in “violation of a contractual obligation to exchange Internet traffic with Cogent on a settlement free peering basis.” The two companies are in litigation over the issue.”
The good news is that the internet is ’self-heeling’ allowing traffic to find another route, the bad news is that this ’spat’ will slow down the internet. If your internet connection seems slow today, I would bet money it has to do with Sprint and Cogent. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
New ‘Hot Standby’ Server Solutions from Architel!
Alexander Muse , October 23, 2008
Most small companies have four or five servers that are mission critical to their business operations. Given that, most small companies can afford to have a complete mirrored fail-over environment. Some small companies can afford to have an extra server around in the event of a failure of one of them. The problem with an extra server is that it can take as much as a day to get it up and running place of the primary server that failed. Architel has a solution.
Architel will create up 10 ‘Hot Standby’ Windows or SQL Servers for a one time fee of $5,000. Each a complete duplicate of the primary server. In the event the primary server fails, our engineers would ‘engage’ the ‘Hot Standby’ until the primary server can be repaired.
Microsoft Windows 32 and 64 bit AMIs are supported. Usage charges are passed through (no mark up) starting at $.125 per hour. If you are interested, please contact sales 214.550.2000.
The Credit Crunch is Crushing Local IT Companies
Alexander Muse , October 7, 2008
You might be surprised, but more than 75% of all IT service providers utilize revolving lines of credit to finance their companies (Architel does not). The average $5,000,000 IT service provider has $200,000 to $500,000 in a revolving credit facility. Earlier this week the banks who provide these credit facilities, like Bank of America, have contacted their clients and let them know that they may not be able to draw down on the these lines. This means that these IT service providers may not be able to make payroll in the coming weeks. In the IT services game, if you miss payroll, your best people will leave to find more stable positions.
We have witnessed two well known IT companies in Dallas miss payroll this week. We are working with them to transition their clients AND their employees to Architel. We are increasing our cash reserves in order to help other local IT companies in the event the credit crunch makes it impossible to meet their obligations to employees and clients. If your IT provider is having problems or if you are an IT provider worried about short term cash needs please give us a call, we can help.
