I spent about four hours today with AT&T working on a phone line for a client.  This was a traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) line, which is what most of us had in our house before Vonage or digital phone.  This type of phone line is an old, but very dependable, technology... or so I thought.  After today I am convinced that anything analog needs to be phased out.  We had one line out of four that was down and it took the AT&T tech five hours to get this line back.  As it turns out the copper pair shorted out inside of a cable in a corner of the building.  He was able to move this to a different pair but not before a lot of work to figure out the problem.  There was not any programming involved but simply moving an analog line over to a different wire.

When he was finished I spent some time chatting with him and he mentioned that as a repair tech they spend most of their time on POTS lines.  He went on to say that they very rarely have a single problem like this with digital circuits such as T-1, ISDN, or PRI.  You could also bundle SIP trunks (Session Initiation Protocol: a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service) into this but AT&T does not typically sell SIP trunks.  The repair tech also stated that the new digital technologies are faster and more reliable for the end customer.  It would be nice if we could move away from POTS lines and start to move our telephony delivery into the digital age.

We have so many options for phone with VoIP or digital trunks.  If you would like to learn more about these we are always available to help you understand anything you may be unsure of.

How is it that when you get home, turn on your wireless laptop, and scan for networks you see every network in your neighborhood, yet you go to an airport and see just one of them?  What is it that you actually see anyways?  You see a network named "smith family" and one named "Jones."  They are called SSID; short for Set Service Identifier.  Basically it is the name of your network.

We know wireless has its limitations in range so how does it work that an entire airport has one SSID?  The term is called "clustering."  Wireless access points are spread out every so often and all chained together with clustering.  We are taking a group of wireless access points and grouping them together.  This allows for someone to stay connected no matter what side of the airport they are on or how far away they are going inside the facility.

Think about this the next time you are in a large environment and impress one of your friends by telling them you know about wireless clustering.  You might get called a tech nerd but if you are reading this blog you sort of are anyway, right?

As we reflect back on the year of 2011 there are several momentous feats that were accomplished.  The war in Iraq ended, Osama bin Laden was killed, Occupy Wall Street made headlines around the world, the Japanese earthquake, and, while not nearly as important to most, let's not forget the Facebook "updates."  But what about the world of technology?  What strides, or flops, were introduced to the world?

In early 2011, the popularity of the tablet soared to where it is today.  With the introduction of the iPad2 on March 11, 2011, companies like Samsung, Motorola, Acer, and others scrambled to develop similar products.  Now, tablets are available in a variety of colors, sizes, and with different operating systems.  Most non-Apple tablets run on the Android operating system while some companies, like HP and Blackberry, tried their own.

Along the same lines in soaring popularity, the Android operating system has been taking over.  In 2011, the presence of the Android OS rose from 13% to 72% of the marketplace.  Most of this can be attributed to it being open source, unlike Apple which is proprietary and used solely on Apple products.  Android can be integrated on smartphones, tablets, e-readers, and even mobile media devices.

The introduction of streaming media is another leap forward in technology that came about in 2011.  Though Netflix has been streaming some movies and TV shows online since 2008, the competition just recently started taking aim.  Due to the vast availability of streaming media from your PC, TV, phone, or Apple products, Netflix lost 78% of its market share, stock worth, and customer base in a matter of months.  Now that you can download movies and TV shows from Hulu, Flickster, Amazon, and about 1000 other places, the need for DVD rentals through the mail has absolutely tanked.  Combine that with the introduction of Redbox and Netflix is on the verge of becoming another Blockbuster.

One of the greatest accomplishments for the field of technology in 2011 is the widespread introduction and availability of 4G.  4G is the new standard in wireless technology and mobile broadband.  Currently the use of LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a "beta" type of 4G, meaning it's not all the way up and running yet.  3G was nice when it came out, but 4G, WOW.  4G technology takes the 200kbits/s standard (or as slow as cold molasses) and multiplies it by 500, giving you amazing mobile speed.  In several areas around Charlotte I can get 35 Mbps download speeds.  That's 4 times faster that the cable internet speeds I pay Time Warner for at home.  With the introduction of faster speeds for downloads and uploads, the social network has been affected the most.  Status updates, picture uploads, games with friends... they're all in real time.  We can now update all of our "followers" as we actually partake in whatever event at the moment is "status update worthy."

Though these are just a few examples of how technology has changed in 2011, we can look back and be comforted in knowing that technology is ever-growing, ever-evolving, and making leaps and bounds for the human race every day.

From all of us at IRIS Solutions, we wish you and yours a happy and prosperous New Year!

If you have been around long enough to see all of the different Microsoft Windows desktop versions you have seen a few busts.  Let's be honest, Windows Millennium, released in 2000, was one of the worst jokes in software history.  So in keeping with the uncertainty that we have grown accustomed to with Microsoft Windows releases, I have been following some recent news about Windows 8.

Windows 8 claims to use less RAM (Per this article), which is the part of a computer that runs programs.  As you might know, RAM is relatively inexpensive and Microsoft has made full use of this.  Microsoft is typically a very bloated operating system compared to Linux, however Microsoft Windows does so much more.  Windows is the primary desktop operating system for 90% of today's workforce, and Windows 7 was probably the best deployment by Microsoft ever as it has definitely been the most secure and reliable to date.  So with RAM prices so cheap, why are we playing the lowest common denominator and using less RAM?  Call me crazy but if Windows 8 needs 8GB of RAM I am going to give them 12 and love every minute of it.  Windows 7 on 64bit with an Intel i7 processor is lightning fast.  I hope they don't reinvent the wheel and modify Windows 8 to be something it is not. 

As almost everyone has seen and heard, "the cloud" has become the new buzzword in the Information Technology (IT) field.  Some people think the cloud is a new technology, however it has been around for some time.  Have you ever had a Yahoo or Hotmail account?  Do you realize this is a cloud-based service?  The cloud is not a new philosophy, just a new expression for some existing and old technology.  The cloud can be explained as a service that is hosted via the internet where you do not need shared resources, software, and other hardware to utilize this service.  All that would be required is a computer along with an internet connection.

Cloud services are great for Gmail, file sharing such as Dropbox, and some hosted based applications.  Cloud-based services have some very distinct advantages and just like anything else, have some disadvantages.

Your advantages are easy to account for:

• Low cost of hardware- You will not require expensive back office equipment to run your databases and applications.  All of your file sharing that was going to be stored on a server in your office will be stored online.  Your upfront costs are very low.  Typically, hosted services in the cloud are setup so all you need is an internet connection and a computer.
• Maximum uptime/availability- Any decent cloud-based provider will have multiple customers that require use of this service.  This provider would guarantee a certain level of uptime or availability of their service by having it available to you at peak times of your business.  They will have redundancies (power, telecommunications, hardware, and security) in place to avoid a single system failure at their site, thereby maximizing this uptime or availability.
• Maintenance- Maintenance will be performed during the cloud provider's off peak times, such as the middle of the night or on weekends, minimizing your downtime during a work week.  Maintenance, such as enhancements and fixes to the application, would be performed without client intervention and would allow for quick and easy software patches to correct an error.

The disadvantages of a cloud-based system:

• Ownership of data- You do not own your data.  If you use a cloud-based application called XYZ CRM and you decide to move to another vendor ABC CRM, in some cases you will have no guarantee as to what data XYZ will give you.  Your data is essentially stored on their system and they will retain ownership of the information.  The cloud-based provider will tell you that you can retrieve your data but it may not be in a usable format or the format that you may prefer.  As with all conversions of data from one software package to another, there is a very high probability that you will never get a one to one translation for your data if you were to move from a cloud-based application, whether it is to another cloud-based provider or to host your own information.
• Accessibility/speed- In the preceding paragraphs, I wrote about how maximum uptime can be achieved with a cloud-based system.  However, this does not guarantee accessibility to the application or data.  Many cloud-based applications transfer small amounts of data down to your individual system.  For applications that require more data, such as imaging, calculations, or reporting, a cloud-based system will be slower.  Should you need to transmit a set of digital images from a camera or a radiograph, the access to this data will be much slower.  A typical network on a customer site can work at 100MB to 1.0GB.  This means that you can access your data on your network at one hundred million bits per second up to one billion.  The fastest cable provider in our area can deliver from five million to thirty million bits per second.  As you can see, having a system on premise will always be much faster than something in the cloud.  When looking at a cloud-based application it is best to determine how much speed is required and what you will be transmitting before making a final decision.
• Cost- Many would say that cost should be considered an advantage but I would say the opposite.  In the determination of a cloud-based system, you should determine how long it would take to justify the monthly cost of the application versus what it would cost to get the system put in-house.  If you brought your system in-house you would need hardware to run all of the databases and applications, a software purchase to install on the hardware, and the cost of a qualified IT professional to set this up.  However, as this cost may be high up front, it does have a low monthly overhead.  The break-even point where you would have paid off your on-premise system versus the cloud-based system is typically 18-24 months.  When you surpass the break-even point, this is when you start to spend more for a cloud-based system than an on-premise application.
• Contracts- Typically a fee for service cloud-based provider will lock you into a contract for their services.  These providers know what their break-even point is and how to maximize their contract with you to make the deal profitable for them.  These contracts may be longer than you want and have excessive cancellation fees.
• Downtime- I mention an advantage of a cloud-based application was uptime, but how would downtime hurt you?  In a traditional premise-based application, if your system goes down you call your local IT support and dispatch them to correct this.   Depending upon who you use for local IT support you should get same-day response.  If your cloud-based provider has an internet or power outage you will have to wait on them.  For instance, what if your provider is based in Silicon Valley and they have an earthquake that cuts power to the facility?  How long are you willing to be without your data while you wait for the local California power company to restore power to your provider?  You will not have any control over downtime and it may or may not be excessive.  Does your provider reimburse you for lost revenues?  I would say they will not.

Overall, the pros and cons aside, it should depend on your application's features and benefits to determine if you need cloud-based services.  Specific applications have been proven to be successful, such as e-mail of file sharing.  Application hosting has been around a very long time but may not provide you with the service you expect to differentiate your business from your competitors.

Work with your peers and local IT support to gain insight on what would and would not work to help you determine the right path.  Good luck!

Author: Bradley T. Wilson is Vice President of Technology for IRIS Solutions and is responsible for the daily service and support of the clients of IRIS Solutions.  He has done hundreds of installations for new practices utilizing various practice management software and peripherals as they relate to dental practices and the use of images for patient treatment.  He can be reached at 704-523-3877 or at www.irissol.com

Remember the old sci-fi movies that had a storyline based on technology and healthcare together?  Even the more recent films have used this idea.  "Avatar", for example, used technology to repair a soldier's leg after an injury.  While such advances are from from reality, one step closer has been made.

Engineers in Utah have developed a way to use Wi-Fi receivers to monitor a patient's breathing with no wires, no tubes, and no intrusion.  The technology, known as "Breath Taking", can be used for elderly patients with COPD and Emphysema, infants and newborns, and even patients with Sleep Apnea.

Because Wi-Fi signals can see through walls and are even taking on new roles as burglar alarms and motion detectors, engineers decided to take it to the next level.  They found that a network of 20 wireless transceivers around a hospital bed were able to estimate a patient's breathing rate to within two-fifths of a breath per minute.  Because the chest and abdomen move during breathing, which impedes crisscrossing signals, each of the nodes can receive and transmit to and from the other 19 transceivers, resulting in as many as 380 measurements of radio signal strength.  To detect breath, a computer algorithm squares the amplitude of the signal on ever link between nodes and averages that volume over the 380 links.  Pretty remarkable!

Although the use of robotic surgeons to repair an injury in hours instead of the body taking months will probably not be an option the next time you wind up in an Emergency Room, at least we know we're on the right track.

Before the dawn of the Smartphone there were handheld and mobile GPS (Global Positioning System) devices.  Companies like Garmin and Tom-Tom thrived in the new market of location-based guidance services and although exciting in itself, that technology has grown to become much more than just turn-by-turn directions to your destination.

With the introduction of handheld devices like Blackberry, iPhone, and Android, companies took GPS to the next level.  Have you noticed when you are playing the newest episode of "Angry Birds" that every once in a while an ad will appear?  The advertisement may say "Starbucks Coffee, Buy One Get One Free", and you are sitting in a Starbucks.

Remember when you first powered on your new Smartphone?  There was a setup question that asked if you wanted to enable "location services." Well, by answering "yes", companies like Verizon, Google, RIM, Apple, and thousands more are able to see where you are every minute of the day.  It's true, Google actually knows that you are sitting in Starbucks at this very moment, either by GPS signal via 3G/4G, or by utilizing a site's Wi-Fi network.  In fact, over 28 percent of adults use location-based services every day.

Twelve percent of Smartphone owners use geo-social services (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn) so that their locations are automatically included in their posts on those services, and as many as 55 percent use their Smartphones for getting directions and recommendations based on current locations.  Want to know what great restaurants are nearby? What about the nearest movie theater and what they are showing?  Simply use any one of 12 million apps and you can see what points of interest are near you.  As the industry evolves, some apps even include coupon codes for sales that are going on at nearby retailers.

These location-based apps can also be used for other reasons aside from entertainment.  Just recently a local law enforcement agency was able to place a suspect on the scene of a homicide by his Smartphone.  Apparently his phone connected to a neighboring Wi-Fi network and posted his exact location.  There is no denying he was there, when technology says so.

All in all today's location services are evolving to make life much more convenient.  Just be mindful of what services you use.  You never know who's watching.

The once beloved piece of technology, a frontier gadget, the all-anticipated iPad is starting to slow among American users.  With the availability of Android and HPOS based tablets at a cheaper price, the iPad will soon become as prevalent as a bag phone. 

The Android Market holds thousands of free apps, some of the exact same apps that are paid in iTunes, and has a much better user and graphical interface.  Sure you can stream movies on both and can use both as a bubble level, but the fact that Android is open source means you don't have to live with the bloat that Apple pushes and denies you the ability to weed out.  One of the most beneficial apps for the business user is Documents to Go.  This app allows you to view, create, edit, send, and receive documents in MS Office format.  In addition, this is a free app.

Android tablets are far more customizable to the user's needs and budget.  Apple has a tendency to tell you what you will have, not what you can get.  In addition, the IOS is not enterprise friendly and many companies are foregoing the gadgets for the latest and greatest Android tablet.

Another problem is compatibility.  Apple has a monopoly on transferability of files and syncing with your PC.  If you don't hold your original iTunes account on the PC you're connecting to, all is lost.  Android is as simple as plug and play.  With the use of the removable and expandable SD cards, the Android owner can take his/her files with them and not have to drag the whole pad around town for it to get scratched up, broken, or possibly stolen,

Want more options?  You can achieve this with the Android but not the iPad.  The Androids come in 5", 7", 8", or 10"+ sided tablets.  Overall, Apple created a market for items when there was not a market for them.  Apple owns the digital music market with the iPod and they revolutionized the smart phone market with the iPhone.  When they came out with the iPad they created yet another item without a market and made millions.  The iPad is a great gadget but IMHO the Android tablet gives you many more options.

The tech blogs are booming with news and insights about the upcoming Windows 8 release and all of the new features it will have.  Like many people, we are used to the idea of an app.  Apps are everywhere.  There's an app for this, an app for that, and now Microsoft Windows 8 has an app store, dubbed the Windows Store.  It will apparently offer consumers a variety of free and paid apps for PCs that they can download much in the same way the Apple users can download apps from the Mac App Store. Reports of a Windows app store have long been floating about, suggesting that such a show could allow Microsoft to mimic the success that Apple and Android have achieved with their own app stores. 

Another new feature in the Windows 8 release is a Cloud Synchronization Tool.  The feature would let users sync files and folders from their local PCs with a cloud-based service. 

Yet another new feature, and the most exciting next to the app store, would allow users to carry Windows 8 with them on a USB drive.  This portable workspace, or "Windows on a Stick" option, would allow people to load a bootable copy of Windows 8 from a USB device and implement all of the features and functions.  This particular feature will most likely be geared toward business users who could take their corporate version of Windows 8 with them from the office to work at home. 

With new features and tools like these Windows 8 is sure to become the latest and greatest... at least until Apple releases the next OS.