Description:

The role of the Project Manager is to plan, execute, and finalize projects according to strict deadlines and within budget. This includes acquiring resources and coordinating the efforts of team members and third-party contractors or consultants in order to deliver projects according to plan. The Project Manager will also define the project’s objectives and oversee quality control throughout its life cycle.

Responsibilities:

• Direct and manage project development from beginning to end.
• Define project scope, goals and deliverables that support business goals in collaboration with senior management and stakeholders.
• Develop full-scale project plans and associated communications documents.
• Effectively communicate project expectations to team members and stakeholders in a timely and clear fashion.
• Liaise with project stakeholders on an ongoing basis.
• Estimate the resources and participants needed to achieve project goals.
• Where required, negotiate with other department managers for the acquisition of required personnel from within the company.
• Determine and assess need for additional staff and/or consultants and make the appropriate recruitments if necessary during project cycle.
• Set and continually manage project expectations with team members and other stakeholders.
• Delegate tasks and responsibilities to appropriate personnel.
• Identify and resolve issues and conflicts within the project team.
• Identify and manage project dependencies and critical path.
• Plan and schedule project timelines and milestones using appropriate tools.
• Track project milestones and deliverables.
• Develop and deliver progress reports, proposals, requirements documentation, and presentations.
• Determine the frequency and content of status reports from the project team, analyze results, and troubleshoot problem areas.
• Proactively manage changes in project scope, identify potential crises, and devise contingency plans.
• Define project success criteria and disseminate them to involved parties throughout project life cycle.
• Coach, mentor, motivate and supervise project team members and contractors, and influence them to take positive action and accountability for their assigned work.

First the good news: It is very cheap to deploy additional server and application resources. In the past it would take four or five servers to handle a company’s computing needs and often those servers would be overtaxed. Today cloud offerings make it easy to deploy the same applications across any number of servers ensuring that the environment is not overtaxed. Many companies that we support who previously needed 5 servers on average are now using as many as 10 – a 100% increase in server utilization. Additionally, in the cloud the incremental cost to add servers is very low – almost free in many cases.

One of our clients (who agreed to let me write about their environment) has 21 servers in our data center. They needed a redundant environment in the cloud which we helped them create in Amazon’s cloud (perhaps the best in the industry today). They use more than 63 servers in Amazon’s cloud to do the same work that 21 servers they own did in our data center. Why so many more? Well the incremental cost of each server was almost $0 – the way Amazon charges customers based on utilization means that you pay the same amount for 1 server doing twice as much work as 2 servers doing about half the work. Two servers doing half the work works better in many cases and since the cost is the same, developers often opt for a bigger environment. We call this ‘server creep’ and it is happening to EVERYONE who is leveraging the cloud.

Now for the bad news: If servers are free your staff will find a reason to spin up a new server in the cloud faster than rabbits have baby rabbits. Your mother might have mentioned to you that there is no free lunch – and she was right. Supporting a single cloud based server is about the same work as supporting a locally based server. Each additional interconnected server added either locally or in the cloud increases the complexity and as a result support costs increase in a polynomial curve upward. For most companies, moving to the cloud can reduce their hardware costs by 50%, while their labor costs increase by 100%. Not surprisingly most cloud companies won’t explain this phenomenon to potential clients. Additionally this increased cost doesn’t show up right away – in fact it usually hits most cloud clients at 6-12 months after moving to the cloud. Most new cloud customer build up a HUGE support ‘debt’ that must be repaid with support.

The decision to move to the cloud is a math problem. Is the hardware cost savings more than the support cost increases? Most companies realize that it is smart to leverage the cloud for certain activities and leverage your server closet for others. What about your company? What are your cloud plans?

In 2010 we were outgrowing the INFOMART and they happened to need our space for another client so we began thinking about what it would be like to build a new NOC – one twice as big (growing from 12 seats to 26 seats) as the old Broadwing NOC. Working with the architect we can up with the design seen below:

It was a sad day when our old NOC was torn down:

Construction of our new NOC took about 4 months:

When it was done we started outfitting it with all of the bells and whistles we had wanted at the old NOC:

GreyScale Reinvents Loneliness
Startup Raises $41 to Celebrate Isolation and Withdrawal in a World That’s Just Not That Interesting

DALLAS, April 1, 2011 — Introduced today, GreyScale™ is a miraculous, free application for iPhone and Android that allows people who spend most of their time alone to capture and have real-time access to monochromatic photos and videos of themselves — created by themselves, for themselves. GreyScale is the best way to experience life’s everyday moments without having to share them with people you barely know and could care less about – or anyone else, for that matter.

“GreyScale is the most advanced and intuitive way to enjoy your smartphone, even if you don’t have many friends and rarely get out of the house,” said Alexander Muse, GreyScale’s CEO. “While some high-profile apps, such at the recently announced Color, encourage users to share everything with everybody, we find this very annoying. We are happiest when we don’t have to pretend to lead exciting lives, since most people today actually lead lives of isolation and withdrawal.”

“Let’s face it: it’s not just losers who are alone a lot – it’s most of us. And most of us don’t look that great in color, either,” Muse added. “That’s why we like to say that GreyScale is ‘Color for the rest of us.’”

“Just as the iPhone changed everything about mobile phones, so GreyScale will transform the way people work and play with themselves,” said Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner, SoftTech VC. “Once or twice a decade a company emerges from Silicon Valley that can change everything. While not actually based in Silicon Valley, GreyScale is one of those companies.”

GreyScale has raised $41 in financing from an all-star cast of angel investors including Jeff Clavier, Mark Cuban, Dave McClure, David Cohen, Jay Adelson and Aaron Patzer. Proceeds will be used to develop GreyScale’s pioneering technology and provide service on a global scale, particularly in Eastern Europe, where it is expected to be huge.

GreyScale is a Visual Diary

Every photo and video captured using GreyScale is stored on the Web for immediate enjoyment. Capture every experience without worrying about using up memory; GreyScale has infinite capacity to capture even the most mundane moments of the most monotonous lives. Each day is monochromatically displayed as a series of thumbnail images. Tap on any image to go back to the day when it was originally captured for full contextual information. You can see all your visits to the bathroom, living room couch or mailbox during the past day, week or month. Looking back has never been so detailed, easy or unsparingly honest.

Availability and Pricing

GreyScale is available from various places arguing over who owns the name “App Store.” It is free to download and use.

About GreyScale

GreyScale is advancing the Post-VC revolution by inventing new applications for about $41 each. Founded and led by a team of no-name engineers and entrepreneurs, GreyScale is based in Dallas but conveniently located in the area code of Palo Alto, California. To learn more about GreyScale, please visit http://www.shopsavvy.mobi.

Links to Graphics:

GreyScale Logo: Download

Icon: Download

Website Screenshot: Download

iPhone Screenshot 1: Download

iPhone Screenshot 2: Download

Android Screenshot: Download

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Earlier this year we decided that we didn’t want to die so we began taking our health more seriously. Besides our own health we began thinking of the health of our employees and how we might be able to make a difference in their lives. After talking to our team we learned some disturbing facts:

• More than half of the team is overweight (sitting at a computer all day isn’t very aerobic)
• More than half have not visited the doctor for a physical in more than five years
• More than half haven’t been to the dentist in more than a year.
• More than half don’t get any exercise
• More than half drink more than 5 sodas each day

We decided we would focus on our own behavior first. We began by hiring a trainer to help us work out three days a week. When we moved to our new office we built a gym and a shower so that we could work out everyday without leaving the office. We then began training daily and offered to let the employees join us. Next we hired a nutritionist to help design our diets. Then we asked to nutritionist to serve healthy meals to our staff each Friday. Then we decided that within one year our entire team would be tobacco free (we’ll keep you posted). Finally, we are experimenting with concierge medical services – bringing the doctor to our team on a regular and as-needed basis.

Our program is still in its infancy, but we are seeing some positive changes. One of our employees who has taken part in our exercise program has lost more than 30 pounds. Another has lowered his blood pressure from 161 over 98 to 118 over 70. I even stopped drinking Diet Coke (I was drinking 5-10 a day). The healthcare system in the United States is broken because we focus too much of our attention on the sick. If we spent more time and money on the supposedly ‘healthy’ we might live longer and healthier lives – it is an experiment. If you are interested in joining us stop by any Friday for lunch and we will show you around.

Here’s some highlighted new features in Asterisk 1.8:

• Secure real-time transport protocol (RTP) support—New end-to-end VoIP encryption of signaling and media to compliment the existing encrypted signaling support.
  Steve explained SRTP support will be huge since it will allow for government and financial deployments of the Asterisk platform.
• Security event framework—Modular capability for collecting and distributing security events within Asterisk.
• Extensive additions to ISDN-BRI functionality—Call completion services, connected party identification, ETSI advice of charge (AOC), message waiting indicator (MWI), call rerouting and call deflection.
• Session initiation protocol (SIP) changes—Substantial increase in the speed of registrations, transport layer security (TLS) improvements and more flexible network address translation (NAT) handling.
• IPv6 support—Although IPv6 has a slow uptake in the enterprise, at the carrier core, IPv6 is progressing very quickly. Steve mentioned that could be the initial place where IPv6 can be leveraged on the Asterisk platform. He said, “I suspect initially you’ll see it in the carrier and cable deployments. In fact, we have support now for PacketCable NCS built into Asterisk as well, so those two goes nicely hand-in-hand. There are a lot of cable providers that are rolling out IPV6 for all the set top boxes and other devices that are attached to their network.” He added, “The other area IPv6 is big is Asia. There is a lot of IP underruns in Asia where there is billions of people with billions of devices. So it’s really caught on there. In a lot of ways that has been a gating factor for Asterisk deployments in Asia. But now that IPv6 is there, we’re expecting an even larger percentage of adoption.”
• Calendar integration—Support for Microsoft Exchange, CalDav and iCalendar. This is a pretty cool feature. If for instance your Calendar has you listed as in a meeting, Asterisk can automatically send the caller to your voicemail. Or if you are marked as ‘or Out of Office’ Asterisk can automatically forward to your cell phone.
• Channel event logging (CEL)—Enhanced call tracking and logging for better audit trail and billing purposes.
• XMPP distributed messaging—Better scalability for message waiting and device state.
• Improved internationalization and localization—Asterisk offers improved handling of concatenated audio playback (dates, numbers).
• Google Talk and Google Voice support—Inbound and outbound support for Google Talk and Google Voice calling. Google is serious about voice. Google is offering a free DID and free calling until the end of 2010 via Google Talk. So with the Google Talk integration, you essentially have a FREE trunk to make free calling on your Asterisk PBX. Take that Skype Connect!
• High-resolution timestamps for call data records (CDR)—Carrier and enterprise users can track call times to the microsecond.
• Better support for voice codecs—16 kHz signed linear media streams are now supported. Additional HD voice codecs supported. Siren 7 and Siren 14 codecs from Polycom are also now supported
• PacketCable NCS 1.0 support—Allows cable companies to use Asterisk as an option to create business services.
• Default de-noise for conference bridge calls—Conference calls will sound clearer.
• ConfBridge application enhancements—DAHDI hardware is no longer required to use this software feature. New call conferencing application that does not require the DAHDI kernel interface to operate.
• Pitch shift functions—The pitch of audio, including of callers’ voices, can be manipulated.
• Multicast RTP paging—Extremely efficient and scalable method for handset paging. Instead of sending an INVITE to 50 IP phones, you can leverage multicast to send a broadcast to the IP phones. Steve said Polycom, snom, and he said he thought Aastra phones supported this multicast feature. Multicast means a little more work for your switches and routers, but much less stress on the Asterisk server than the traditional way.
• Faster development and more robust unit testing—Digium has implemented Agile development and a new automated testing framework. The Agile process streamlines development and gives Asterisk users a better view into development plans.

On Tuesday, the Russian anti-virus firm came clean and admitted that hackers were able to compromise the kasperskyusa.com by exploiting a vulnerable third-party application. As a result, people who visited the site were redirected to a malicious webpage.

“The website was simulating a Windows XP Explorer window and a popup window showing scanning process on the local computer and offering the user a fake antivirus program to install,” a statement from Kaspersky stated. “The domain was making these redirections for 3.5 hours in total.”

Based on Kaspersky’s terse disclosure, it’s likely visitors would become infected only if they fell for the ruse and clicked on links to download and install the malicious software. The statement provides no guidance to users who did so.

Microsoft dropped the proverbial bomb on MSPs earlier this week when it revealed 49 security flaws in Windows, IE and Office. The previous record for most security fixes was 34 in October of last year. Patching PCs is time consuming because we must test the fixes before deploying them to our client’s systems. All Architel clients should be completely patched by the end of the week.