{"id":9599,"date":"2016-09-06T08:17:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T15:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/?p=9599"},"modified":"2017-05-11T08:42:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-11T15:42:16","slug":"cloud-therapy-ep-020-dr-for-converged-internet-voice-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-ep-020-dr-for-converged-internet-voice-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Cloud Therapy: EP 020 &#8211; DR for Converged Internet &#038; Voice Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020.jpg\" rel='magnific'><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020.jpg\" alt=\"EP020\" width=\"572\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020-250x139.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/EP020-600x333.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Putting your company&#8217;s Internet service and phone service (and sometimes your MPLS service), on the same <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/search?q=Integrated+Voice%2FData+Circuit\" target=\"_blank\">integrated (a.k.a &#8220;converged&#8221;)<\/a><\/span>, circuit can save a lot of money and allow you to get a faster Internet connection (by utilizing your unused voice capacity). But the downside is that it reduces you down to a single point of failure for all services, simultaneously.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/windstream\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Windstream<\/span><\/a><\/span> engineer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/johnkawalec\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jon Kawalec<\/a> joins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mikesmithaerocom\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mike<\/a> to discuss fantastic DR strategies for converged services. He also has a great story for everyone to hear.<\/p>\n<p>Josh Chamois also makes an appearance to reveal the details of a current promotion where a provider is giving away 10M of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/product\/access\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Internet<\/span> <\/a>access for free. After he discusses the promo, Mike makes him jump through hoops to find something special at a famous location in Boulder, CO.<br \/>\n<iframe style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/4587401\/height\/90\/width\/640\/theme\/custom\/autonext\/no\/thumbnail\/yes\/autoplay\/no\/preload\/no\/no_addthis\/no\/direction\/backward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/87A93A\/\" width=\"640\" height=\"90\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nWant more Cloud Therapy?\u00a0Subscribe to us on <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/cloud-therapy-aerocominc.com\/id1112772590?mt=2\" target=\"_blank\">iTunes<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/cloud-therapy-with-aerocominccom?refid=stpr\" target=\"_blank\">Stitcher<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Want AeroCom&#8217;s advice on the best 3 converged service providers at your company&#8217;s location? Click below.<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<script src=\"\/\/static.leadpages.net\/leadboxes\/current\/embed.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><button style=\"background: #f26e22; border-color: #f26e22; border-radius: 4px; color: #ffffff; display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle; padding: 16px 32px; min-width: 192px; border: 1px solid #f26e22; font-size: 1rem; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: center; outline: 0; line-height: 1; cursor: pointer; -webkit-transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; transition: background 0.3s, color 0.3s, border 0.3s; box-shadow: 0px 5px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.6);\" data-leadbox-popup=\"144249073f72a2:136337e37f46dc\">MY TOP 3<\/button> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/p>\n<h5>Transcript:<\/h5>\n<p>Mike: Cloud Therapy Episode 20. Hey, IT nation. Welcome to Cloud Therapy with AeroCominc.com, where you learn about the latest cloud in telecom technology that is going to take your career to the next level. I\u2019m your host, Mike Smith. Let\u2019s do it. Welcome, IT nation, to episode 20. Thank you again for joining us, and I promised I won\u2019t let you down. We have another great episode. So today, we\u2019re going to talk a little bit about disaster recovery with converged services, and we\u2019ve got a great guest to discuss that. His name is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/johnkawalec\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jon Kawalec<\/a>. He\u2019s a sales engineer at <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/windstream\" target=\"_blank\">Windstream<\/a><\/span>. So if you have ever thought about getting a converged service for your company, or if you already have one in place now and what that is\u2026 Just so all of you who don\u2019t know what that is, that is, when you have your internet and phone service on the same circuit. You also can throw in your wide area network services on the same circuit as well, like <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/site-to-site\/mpls\/\" target=\"_blank\">MPLS<\/a><\/span>. So it\u2019s a great service. You can save money by reducing the amount of circuits that you have, so instead of having two or three circuits for these separate types of services, you converge them all down into one circuit so you save some money there. It\u2019s a great service, and when you\u2019re not using the phone service or MPLS piece, you get the whole circuit for internet. So it\u2019s great, it works fantastic, but the one downside of it is that you go from multiple points of failure for those different types of services to a single point of failure. So there is a little bit of a downside, but Jon\u2019s going to address that for us today and tell you ways you can prepare for that, and avoid down time. So he\u2019s going to talk about disaster recovery for converged services, so make sure you tune in and stay on board to hear that conversation, because I know you\u2019ll learn a little bit more when you listen to Jon, and that\u2019s always the goal, right? Learn just a little bit more every single day. Alright, also on the program, I have Josh joining us again, and Josh is going to tell us about a fantastic promotion he is aware of right now, where you can get free 10 Megs of internet access. That\u2019s dedicated internet access, port speed for 10 Megs for free. So he\u2019s going to tell us how you can get that and what promotion that is, and some of the details with that. And I\u2019m also challenging Josh to find something in Boulder, Colorado. It\u2019s something very significant in Boulder, Colorado. Do you know what I\u2019m talking about? What\u2019s in Boulder, Colorado? I\u2019ll give you a hint. It has to do with something that\u2019s taking place right now as I\u2019m recording this, which is the Month of August. So what\u2019s happening in August that\u2019s related to Boulder, Colorado? And you might be on the right track. Well, I\u2019m asking Josh to find something telecom-related at that location, so stay tuned for that fun little thing. And as always, I\u2019ve got a giveaway for my audience. I like to give you guys free stuff, so if one promotion from Josh is not enough to satiate your appetite, we made a whole list of all the major providers\u2019 promotions on business internet access going on right now. All you have to do is text the word ISP deals to the number 44222, and we will e-mail you a copy of all those promotions. I think there\u2019s, like, 50 or so on the list and it\u2019s from every technology imaginable for businesses, you know, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/ethernet-over-copper\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ethernet over copper<\/a><\/span>, business cable, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/t1\/\" target=\"_blank\">T1<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/fiber\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fiber<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/fixed-wireless\/\" target=\"_blank\">fixed wireless<\/a><\/span>, all these different promotions that are going on right now. So make sure you grab that list, even if it\u2019s expired by the time you\u2019re listening to this, because it will give you some type of an indication on what you should be looking for if you\u2019re quoting those services right now, to kind of give you your bearings on what pricing should be if you\u2019re asking for quotes for any type of business internet service right now. So jump on that gift, just text the word ISP deals to the number 44222, and we\u2019ll send you a free copy. Alright. As always, enough for me. Let\u2019s get to the program, starting with Josh. <a href=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/1447a5573f72a2%3A136337e37f46dc\/5630978613575680\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/guaghI1WWkmKEn-ndpXFYqQLFyeQHhtA1xEpSJ4fta1V8Zyzi2HQLdf1e1RDIcozNiwHcskdhbBKIeS8G-h85Q=s0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><script src=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox-1472752512.js\" type=\"mce-text\/javascript\" data-leadbox=\"1447a5573f72a2:136337e37f46dc\" data-url=\"https:\/\/aerocominc.leadpages.co\/leadbox\/1447a5573f72a2%3A136337e37f46dc\/5630978613575680\/\" data-config=\"%7B%7D\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Alright, Josh. How\u2019s it going today?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: It\u2019s going fantastic. How you doing, Mike?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Fantastic over here as well. So what do you got for us in terms of cool promotions that are out there? I know you got something good.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Alright. So I do have something good. I found this promotion from just keeping engaged with this particular carrier\u2019s telemanager, as I always do, just to make sure I\u2019m in the know on what\u2019s going on in the marketplace. So with this specific promotion, so if a client moves their infrastructure to this provider\u2019s cloud, they will get a unmetered, 10 Meg internet access port with their order for free. I repeat, free. So 10 Meg internet access for free when they migrate their infrastructure to this provider\u2019s cloud. And it could be\u2026 You can move, you know, your hosted private cloud, cloud storage, or if maybe if you just need a little space on a dedicated blade server, all those things qualify to get you 10 Megs of internet access for free with this particular carrier. So\u2026 And that\u2019s not free for a month, or free for six months, or a year, that\u2019s through the whole duration of your contract. So a really, really cool offer here.<\/p>\n<p>So just an FYI, this promotion does expire September 30th, 2016. Again, September 30th, 2016, this one would\u2026 This one will expire, so FYI. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Very cool. I like it.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019ll\u2026 I think that\u2019ll definitely save some people at least a few hundred bucks, or save their company a few hundred bucks\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: \u2026if they\u2019re using cloud, because, you know, if they\u2019re\u2026 If you\u2019re getting bandwidth in your cot environment, you know, the\u2026 It adds up and you\u2019re getting 10 Megs, I bet that would at least cost at least a few hundred bucks, I would guess, off the top of the head.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah, at least. Yep.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, so that\u2026 Well, that\u2019s cool. Thanks for sharing.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: No problem.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And how about the challenge? Are you ready for it?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah, let\u2019s rock and roll.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Alright, I got a good one today. So\u2026 Oops. That\u2019s my e-mail going off. My fault. Didn\u2019t shut it down. Alright, so the Olympics are going on as we\u2019re recording this, so I was thinking, you know what? What if good old Michael Phelps is, you know, hanging out at the Olympic Training Center and, you know, wants to get big bandwidth. I\u2019m sure, he\u2019s got some sponsorship money and he\u2019s got a lot of stuff going on with his marketing team and his agent, and all that stuff. What if he needs a ton of bandwidth at the Olympic Training Center while he\u2019s there? So, you know \u2013 and he\u2019s contemplating going in between a 500 Meg connection and a Gig. Can you kind of check that out for us and see, you know, what\u2026 You know, what types of connections are available and what the pricing is?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: You know, roughly between the 500 Meg connection and a Gig. I think that\u2019s pretty common for customers out there. There\u2019s\u2026 They want to really beef up to a huge connection and I think\u2026 Well, we kind of really\u2026 I think 500 Megs would suffice. That\u2019s pretty big, but, you know, if\u2026 Like, if we go that high, I mean, how much more is a Gig? Is it all relative? Is it, you know, linear in terms of the pricing or is it like, \u201cHey, you pay a couple more hundred bucks and you\u2019re going to double your bandwidth all the way to a Gig\u201d? So I think it\u2019s kind of a fun one to take a look at.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah, no. That\u2019s a good point, yeah. A lot of time, you know, the cost difference between the two is just\u2026 Is negligible. It\u2019s\u2026 I mean, it\u2019s very minimal, so let\u2019s take a look. Yeah, that\u2019s a decent site, a decent area. I think we have a significant amount of Fiber providers going into Boulder, Colorado, so let\u2019s take a peek. Let\u2019s see who we got here.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, that\u2019s interesting. Have you ever been to Boulder, Colorado?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Never been, but I do want to go\u2026 I heard the snowboarding and skiing. It\u2019s phenomenal out there.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, the\u2026 you know, I went to Boulder, Colorado. I was 18 years old. I went there on a recruiting trip.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Oh, I see.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: For football, but not\u2026 didn\u2019t really see the town that much. Didn\u2019t know about an\u2026 had a clue what I was looking at at 18, but I do remember it snowed, like, 11 inches when I was there.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So (inaudible) [0:07:56]\n<p>Josh: Was that\u2026 is that where the University of Colorado is, or Colorado State?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: University of Colorado.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Oh, okay. Okay.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: The Buffaloes.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Very cool. Very cool.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Yeah. I\u2026 that\u2019s like\u2026 I\u2019m like, \u201cOh.\u201d I didn\u2019t know that that\u2019s where the Olympic Training Center was at until, you know, you told me that, but it\u2019s like\u2026 That\u2019s cool that it\u2019s there, though.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: It is cool.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: It\u2019s a\u2026 I\u2019m sure it\u2019s a beautiful spot.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Especially in the summer time.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Alright. Well, my good old tool here is thinking, so\u2026 Oh. It\u2019s actually already popping up. Cool. Awesome. Alright. We\u2019re ready to fire away. So we want to look at the cost difference between 500 Meg and a Gig. So let me\u2026 I\u2019m just going to refine my results a little bit here. And then the cool thing with this tool, it spits out everything that the tool shows available coming from the central office in this\u2026 That\u2019s closest to this particular address. So a lot of good stuff here. So I\u2019m getting everything from 10 Meg all the way up to 2 Gigs.<\/p>\n<p>So let me refine, so let\u2019s get just 500 and a Gig. Alright. So of course, the provider would name\u2026 Would remain nameless. Wow, they got some really good pricing out here. Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Phelps must have already gotten in there, man. Got a couple providers installed.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. So let\u2019s see. Alright. Now, this is pretty good. This is pretty good. So the most competitive pricing I\u2019m seeing for 500, I\u2019m going to compare it with the most competitive pricing for a Gig. The most competitive for 500 Megs, symmetrical dedicated internet access <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/fiber\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fiber circuit<\/a><\/span> is $1,490. $1,490. That is good. Really good. If we look at the pricing for a Gig, the most competitive I see is 20\u2026 I owe everyone a dollar. My phone\u2019s ringing. I\u2019ll put it on vibrate next time. So again, 1,490. And then for a Gig, we are at $2,608. So what\u2019s that? The delta on that is\u2026 so (inaudible) [0:10:10] I don\u2019t know, 1,100 bucks.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: (inaudible) [0:10:13] a thousand bucks.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah. 1,100 bucks. So 1,100 bucks and you could double your bandwidth. So not bad.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So not doubling the price.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: And yeah, and getting the double the bandwidth.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So it isn\u2019t a linear. It is a significant\u2026 You know, it\u2019s a significant bump in the price. So, you know, roughly like a third.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Like, you know, a third of an\u2026 You know, a third of the cost to increase it. But at the same time too, those are budgetary numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Right, right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So, you know, we\u2019ve seen a Gig pricing pretty low, and we\u2019ve seen 500 Meg pretty low, too.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So that\u2019s just, like, at first glance. So that\u2019s cool though, but that was really fast to be able to bring that up. That\u2019s awesome. And just out of curiosity, like, how many providers popped up as being able to service that kind of bandwidth at that\u2026 At the Olympic\u2026 Or US Olympic Training Center there in Boulder?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: So when I refined the results down in terms of the bandwidth to just 500 and a Gig, I have one, two, three. Three carriers that my system\u2019s pulling up.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s three carriers that are pulling up that have\u2026 You know, have linked up their API to this tool.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: But in addition to that, you have an additional tool that we won\u2019t go into right now, but where Josh can actually pull up a fiber map and pull up\u2026 And view visually all the providers that have fiber within, you know, a mile or two within that facility. So even if he\u2019s not getting instant quote from a provider, he does instantly have the ability to see who he should reach out to that he hasn\u2019t\u2026 He\u2019s not able to see a quote from. So that\u2019s pretty cool, too.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Yep. You\u2019re absolutely right.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Awesome. Well, cool. Thanks for doing that for us. You still have yet to\u2026 Or I still have yet to stump you, so you\u2019re still batting a thousand right now, so\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Josh: Hey, that\u2019s the way I like to roll.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: I got to step it up, man. Maybe Yellowstone next time?<\/p>\n<p>Josh: I don\u2019t know. Maybe we should go outside the country, I don\u2019t know. Maybe we have some international listeners that want to pull some pricing at Africa or the UK, I don\u2019t know. What do you think?<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. That being said, hey, if anybody else has any ideas you think would stump Josh that are actually challenging that would be at least realistic, you know, within the means, you know, shoot us an e-mail or something at podcost@aerocominc.com and let us know, give us some ideas. But in the meantime, hey, thanks a lot, Josh. Thanks for joining us.<\/p>\n<p>Josh: No problem, Mike. Take care.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So did any of you guess that I was talking about the Olympic Training Center in Boulder, Colorado? I hope so. And as always, if you would like Josh to do something similar for a location you have in mind, it\u2019s free. It\u2019s no obligation. All you have to do is call us at 877-465-3505, or shoot us an e-mail at <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"mailto:sales@aerocominc.com\" target=\"_blank\">sales@aerocominc.com<\/a><\/span>, or just hit us up on our chat window on our website and feel free to tell Josh what the details are and let him do something similar for you for free.<\/p>\n<p>Okay. So let\u2019s get to the next portion of our show, which is Jon Kawalec, Sales Engineer and Windstream, who is going to tell us some awesome DR tips for converged services. That\u2019s internet and phone service, and possibly wide area network service when you put it all on the same circuit. I know you\u2019re going to get something good from this if you have that service or you\u2019re thinking about having that service, or you never know, at a future company, you might have that service as well. So make sure you take a quick listen, and don\u2019t worry. You don\u2019t have to scramble to take down notes. We do have the transcripts from this episode on our website if you go to <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\">aerocominc.com\/info\/blog<\/a><\/span>, all the transcripts are there, so don\u2019t worry. Just enjoy, listen, go back later and look at the notes.<\/p>\n<p>Alright. Without further ado, here\u2019s Jon. Thanks for joining us, Jon.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Mike, it\u2019s\u2026 Glad to be here.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Great. Well, tell us a little bit about yourself personally and professionally.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Very good. Again, my name is Jon Kawalec and I\u2019m a Senior Sales Engineer at Windstream. We\u2019re working out of the Irvine, California location, so I support Southern California. I\u2019m assigned to the channel, so I get the pleasure of working with Mike and his associates in the channel program. I\u2019ve been\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Don\u2019t hold that against us. Don\u2019t hold it against us.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: I mean, it\u2019s never a dull moment. I\u2019ve been with Windstream three and a half years. I\u2019ve been in the telecom industry since 1978. Started in the United States Air Force, so been around quite a while. Yes, you can say that I invented the internet. So I started from its very inception. Previously, I\u2019ve worked for regional companies like <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/telepacific\" target=\"_blank\">TelePacific<\/a><\/span>, and then I\u2019ve also worked for the larger tier 1 providers, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/centurylink-alliance\" target=\"_blank\">Qwest<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/sprint\" target=\"_blank\">Sprint<\/a><\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/level-3\" target=\"_blank\">Level 3<\/a><\/span>. So been in the industry quite a few years. Mike asked me to mention something personally, married. It\u2019s just my wife, Sheryl, and our dog Vegas. Since we don\u2019t have any children, we do get to go to Las Vegas a lot. And some personal activities, I enjoy playing golf, collecting sports card, and we are hockey fans. We\u2019re season ticket holders for the Anaheim Ducks. So we certainly\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, very cool.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Yeah. So we certainly enjoy the hockey season when it\u2019s upon us.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So sports cars. Tell me a little bit about that. What\u2019s your favorite sports car that you own?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Sports cards, so those\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Yeah, exactly.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: I was like, man, this guy\u2019s got a garage full of sports cars?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Yeah. I used to have a 1973 Barracuda, which I restored and I still have it back with my brother in New Jersey. But on sports cards, I love collecting rare collectibles, things that are autographed, patches of uniforms that are included in the cards, low-numbered ones. A fascinating hobby, piled up in the office. I\u2019ll bring it into work on occasion to share some of the old collectibles I have with people, like, they get very nostalgic. Takes them to their childhood. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about for me. It\u2019s just remembering my childhood.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. That\u2019s really cool. What\u2019s one of your favorite pieces that you own? Not necessarily the most expensive, but just kind of one of your favorites?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Well, favorites would be all the Joe Namath, Joe Montana. Even old school Paul Hornung, old Notre Dame-r. Won the Heisman Trophy back in the \u201850s and the\u2026 or the \u201860s, I believe. So those are the type of things that I get a thrill out of.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s really cool. Yeah, I mean, we\u2019re a big sports family over here. I played football in college and my son is only seven, but he\u2019s really\u2026 He\u2019s at that age where he\u2019s really starting to love following professional baseball teams and some\u2026Trying to, you know, give him a\u2026 As much baseball knowledge as I have about, you know, like the old-time players and he just eats that stuff up and, you know, I think that\u2019s\u2026 It\u2019s so neat when you start looking into that stuff. Like, one of the things we learned recently was that the first baseballs that they played with were made out of lemon peels. They\u2019re going like, \u201cWhat? Lemon peels?\u201d That is\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Lemon peels.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. That is, you know, like, that is crazy. But, you know, I didn\u2019t even know that. But yeah. Like, all the little stuff like that is really cool. I think the coolest thing I own for that, like, I own a Mark McGwire Olympic card. I think I got that, like, in junior high. But man, after all that steroid stuff, the value sure went down.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Yeah. That\u2019s unfortunate. Sometimes, you move from kid to collector and investor on those things, so it\u2019s a shame when you get hit like that. But you must be excited about the Rams coming back, so\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: I share that with you.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, absolutely. It\u2019s\u2026 That\u2019s such a cool thing, you know. I just can\u2019t believe we\u2019ve been without a team for this long, you know. It\u2019s just, we\u2019ve been rooting for the Chargers somehow forever, but yeah. You know, I definitely went to Rams games growing up as a kid over at Anaheim Stadium. And yeah, it\u2019s great. It\u2019s great having them back. I actually grew up in Whittier, which is in LA County, but, you know, just\u2026 Anaheim Stadium was the closest to our house. That\u2019s where we went. So yeah, it\u2026 I\u2019m thinking about actually taking my son over to a couple training camp sessions over at Irvine. I think that\u2019d be fun to take him over there and get to see\u2026 I think, I don\u2019t know. Anybody listening to (inaudible) [0:18:30] too, it\u2019s one thing to watch a\u2026 Any type of professional sport on TV, but when you get to see it, you know, on the field and when you get to see professional football players hitting each other at full speed and you\u2019re right there on the field, that is a different experience for sure.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: You\u2019re a good dad, taking your kids to those things. So they\u2019re a lot of fun.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, it\u2019s cool. And especially too, you know, I\u2019m always\u2026 I\u2019ve always been surprised at how few people show up at that kind of stuff, just at the practices. It\u2019s not\u2026 You know, you can actually go and see the star players, you know, right up close and personal. So it\u2019s always pretty cool.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Yeah. It\u2019s a lot easier to get autographs, too.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, cool. Well, you know, Jon and I talked prior to the show. I think he\u2019s got a great topic that is very relevant to just, you know, normal, average, everyday businesses out there. Because the one thing that\u2019s kind of swept our industry in the last, I\u2019d say, I don\u2019t know, ten years is converged services and circuits. So what that means is, you know, obviously, if a company has, say, a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/pri\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRI T1<\/a><\/span> for phone service or a now\u2026 it might be a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP T1<\/a><\/span> or whatnot, and maybe an <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/site-to-site\/mpls\/\" target=\"_blank\">MPLS<\/a><\/span> circuit for their wide area network services, and then, you know, a <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/internet\/fiber\/\" target=\"_blank\">fiber connection<\/a><\/span> for their internet access, it\u2019s taken those three services and converging them down into one circuit. So somebody might have a fiber circuit that serves as their MPLS, their voice access, and their internet access all in one, so that\u2026 so obviously, there\u2019s a huge cost savings there. Less circuits means less monthly cost, and they\u2019re only using what they need, and whatever they\u2019re not using, they can use for internet access.<\/p>\n<p>So there\u2019s a lot of benefits in converged services for business. And a lot of you listening probably have converged services out there, so I think this is a fantastic topic, because what Jon\u2019s going to talk about is, okay, great. Now you\u2019ve consolidated all this stuff. You save money, there\u2019s tons of benefits, but the one downside is that you have a single point of failure. So I think, you know, what\u2019s great is Jon\u2019s going to give you some tips to, how do you, you know, supply disaster recovery for converged services? So with that, I\u2019ll just kind of hand it over to you, Jon. I\u2019ll let you run with it.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Fantastic. Thanks, Mike. And that was an excellent overview. So as Mike was saying, whenever customers are looking to save money, obviously, converged services is very attractive to them, but again, the downside, as Mike articulated, is that you\u2019re putting all your eggs into one\u2026 To a single basket.<\/p>\n<p>Me professionally, whenever I\u2019m at an initial sales meeting or a discovery meeting, I always bring up disaster recovery, you know. Okay, we hear what your pinpoints are. We have a solution for you, but we didn\u2019t bring up disaster recovery. What if you lose the phones? How does that impact your business? What if you lose your data? How does that impact things? You know, if you lose internet access, what does that do to the production of your company? So I always make it an honest effort to go ahead and bring that up front.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, you will typically get pushed back, stay on a tight budget. This is what I need to go with. Your converged services are going to meet that need. And we\u2019ll run with that for the time being, but it\u2019s kind of like the old adage, \u201cData is the most important thing until the phone goes down.\u201d And then that becomes the most important thing. So typically, we operate in a reactive mode where the customer will get hit with an outage and their services are down, and their CEO is at the IT director\u2019s door. \u201cWhen are we going to get back in service? I got people sitting here idly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So typically, that\u2019s when Mike\u2019s agents of the world and myself will get pulled in. Okay, now we have your attention. You\u2019ve experienced a pain point here. What can we do to alleviate that, you know? And of course, you know, and of course, you know, when you\u2019re talking with the customers about disaster recovery, you know, what\u2019s the required maximum up time, you know, do you need for your business?<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, you need to keep your budgets in check. And typically, they don\u2019t have the IT staff to go ahead and cause a reactive recovery in the event that a remote location loses a ton of activity. So it lets me go to the drawing board and say, \u201cOkay, you know, here\u2019s some things that you can consider doing.\u201d My favorite, of course, is if you have Ethernet circuits in there, let\u2019s put in a secondary Ethernet circuit. We can do failover between the two. We can put in two routers. We can run it to various central offices and even different provider edge routers on the network to give you as much diversity as possible. That comes complete with auto-failover programming in the routers, and it\u2019s a Cadillac version.<\/p>\n<p>But again, they get hit with the additional costs, so they\u2019re like, \u201cOkay. What else can you provide?\u201d You know, then the carriers come in and put in a internet circuit and then we can run IPSec tunnels from the firewalls into the MPLS network, into the voice network and allow for recovery that way. But if you want true network diversity, then you might want to leverage a third party internet provider where you can go ahead and then create those IPSec tunnels back into the MPLS or the voice network and get you back up and operational.<\/p>\n<p>So those are some things that are available out there to ensure that your customers\u2019 business continuity plan is rock solid. Even when we install these future type services, we\u2019ll go ahead and create an artificial failure just so they can test that and make sure it\u2019s comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>So what are some of the benefits that they get? They can sleep at night and not be awakened by a remote location saying, \u201cHey, we\u2019re down. We\u2019re sitting around. Fix this.\u201d You know, and if they\u2019re on the other side of the country, obviously, they got to start making phone calls, and if they don\u2019t have personnel on site, it makes it very difficult for them. So by having things like this in place, it allows them to focus on their core business, taking care of the day-to-day IT responsibilities that are on their plate, and then we just go ahead and manage the back network office and allow them to focus on, you know, what their core competencies are.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Right. That makes sense. So if somebody has a converged service and they have, say\u2026 Like, so they\u2019re running PRI for their company off that converged services and they have a backup internet connection from a third party, how does that work with their voice? So if that converged service circuit goes down, how do their\u2026 What\u2019s your plan to failover their voice? Because obviously, it\u2019s PRI that\u2019s <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Time-division_multiplexing\" target=\"_blank\">TDM<\/a><\/span> technology which isn\u2019t\u2026 It doesn\u2019t typically jive with an internet connection. It\u2019s not going to be\u2026 You\u2019re not going to be able to send PRI calls over a third party internet connection. So what do you guys do for that?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Very good question, Mike. So what we can do is assist on the inbound calls. Typically, there are <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Direct_inward_dial\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">DID<\/span>s<\/a> hanging off of those PRIs, so those are inbound calls. So companies like Windstream will offer something called direct termination overflow. So if you have another PRI at that location or within the footprint of the rate center, we can overflow the inbound call with the <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dialed_Number_Identification_Service\" target=\"_blank\">DNIS<\/a><\/span> and the <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Caller_ID\" target=\"_blank\">caller ID<\/a><\/span> intact to a secondary location.<\/p>\n<p>Or if it\u2019s just a simplistic setup where it\u2019s just the single PRI going in there, well then, we can auto-failover to a predetermined telephone number. That could be a cell phone. That could be an ABL line that appears at the receptionist\u2019s desk. That could be an answering service. You would\u2026 Because we\u2019d basically decide what would be that failover number to\u2026 Plus, with Windstream, you can go into the portal, and if you need to repoint the number where it was failing over to a number inside the building, the fire department had come to the office, knocked on the door, saying, \u201cYou need to evacuate. There\u2019s a gas leak.\u201d Or the train behind you derailed or whatever, now you can go into the portal offsite and then repoint that to a cell phone or somebody\u2019s offsite number to ensure business continuity.<\/p>\n<p>On the outbound, it\u2019s always a good practice for having additional lines built into the PBX, so that way, the automatic route selection of the PBX will say, hey, this PRI\u2019s not available. We\u2019d send this call out over the secondary route, whatever the customer chooses, and ensure business continuity. That way, Mike.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay. So if the PRI\u2026 If you guys designate a single number for the PRI to failover to do all of the phone numbers, then get\u2026 So if somebody\u2019s calling DIDs for individual employees in your office, all those calls are then going to go no matter what to just one number, right?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: That is correct.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay. So\u2026 And then what are the\u2026 Are there limitations as far as\u2026 You know, could someone give you a phone number for a location, like say they\u2019re in\u2026 Say their main location is in Southern California. Could they give you a number that\u2019s at a New York location to point all those incoming numbers to?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Absolutely. That would be an excellent failover plan in the event\u2026 Let\u2019s say there\u2019s an earthquake, and people have evacuated the buildings. Now you can forward that to any number within the country, so that way, you can cover the event that\u2019s happening in California that\u2019s not being impacted somewhere else throughout the country.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay, got it. And then with, you know, with Windstream\u2019s product in particular, I know that when we worked with that failover\u2026 That PRI failover feature, you know, whatever a provider may call it, like, some\u2026 I know you guys call it DTO, but then some providers call it other things. Sometimes, providers will say you need to purchase multiple paths if you want multiple calls to come in at the same time. Is that the way it works with you guys as well? So you have to purchase it for every simultaneous call you want hitting that alternative phone number? You have to purchase another path?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Not through Windstream, and that\u2019s the nice thing about the offering. We\u2019ll point it to any telephone number that resides on any carriers, PRI, or anybody\u2019s home phone number, or anybody\u2019s cell phone.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay, great. So that would save 50 people or\u2026 If it\u2019s a big office and they take about 50 simultaneous calls, so whatever number you\u2019re pointing it to has the ability\u2026 As long as that number has the capacity, 50 simultaneous calls can come through from\u2026 You guys can forward 50 simultaneous calls at the same time as long as wherever you\u2019re pointing it to has the ability to take those\u2026 That amount of calls?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: That is correct. If you\u2019re subscribing 50 calls over that range of DIDs on that PRI that we\u2019re repointing to, we will honor that and send that many calls to that single (inaudible) [0:29:35]\n<p>Mike: Got it. And then the one thing I\u2019ve learned from experience too, that\u2026 With that is that the DID functionality obviously doesn\u2019t carry over. So all those calls are going to go into one main number, and that\u2026 Even if you\u2019re pointing it at another <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Business_telephone_system#Private_branch_exchange\" target=\"_blank\">PBX<\/a><\/span>, that PBX isn\u2019t going to be able to read and route calls because, you know, your site\u2019s down. So basically, you\u2019re going to have a front desk person answer the phone, fielding all these people who are kind of calling in a little bit surprised, so they thought they were calling maybe an individual and they\u2019re getting a front desk?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Exactly. Now, of course, the person that\u2019s receiving the call says, \u201cI\u2019m getting calls on this number that nobody ever calls on.\u201d There must be a failover occurring at another location. So they\u2019re not surprised, but the people that are calling are\u2026 But that\u2019s where the beauty of where <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/voice\/sip\/\" target=\"_blank\">SIP<\/a><\/span> comes in, because if you start upgrading to SIP capabilities, now, that can failover to another SIP trunk with the DNIS and the caller ID intact. So a lot of customers that I worked with will do\u2026 Will have two IP PBXs and they will failover to the second one, have all the tables built in. So let\u2019s say it\u2019s\u2026 The contact sender that\u2019s receiving those inbound calls, they can go ahead and pick up the call and not miss a heartbeat with that customer. They\u2019d get the same pop screen information of that existing customer, and it\u2019s just like calling an 800 number and you don\u2019t know where your call\u2019s going to, but that person\u2019s going to facilitate your call as perfectly as possible. And the same thing would happen with the SIP\u2019s failover.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s great. So yeah, with SIP, you actually do retain\u2026 On a failover scenario, you do retain all of that inbound call information no matter where it lands, as long as you\u2019re landing on another IP PBX?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: That is correct.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: That\u2019s cool. So then\u2026 And then with SIP, you program failover routes, but is it by phone number or is it by IP address?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: We do it by trunk route, but going into the portal again, now you have the ability, unlike with the PRI failover scenario, you have the capability of programming individual numbers for it to failover to. So for dumping the entire trunk route and all the DID ranges associated with that trunk route to an alternate location, once that has occurred, you then have the flexibility of going to the portal and saying, \u201cYou know what? You know, let\u2019s run these DIDs over to this telephone number and let\u2019s run this one over to that one.\u201d So with SIP, there\u2019s just a lot more flexibility and availability to the end users of how they want to treat their traffic at any given scenario.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Very cool. Yeah, I think that\u2019s\u2026 I think those are some great pointers, if\u2026 You know, it\u2019s like the\u2026 Because\u2026 Like we said at the beginning, if you\u2019re\u2026 You know, if you\u2019re going to a converged circuit, that\u2019s fantastic. But at the same time, these are things you kind of have to think through, you know. And, you know, SIP might be an option that you want to consider just because of the additional disaster recovery capability of it.<\/p>\n<p>And if\u2026 You know, the thing is too if they\u2019re bringing\u2026 If they\u2019re delivering SIP over a converged service\u2026 I know it\u2019s\u2026 Today, we\u2019re talking about disaster recovery so we won\u2019t get into it in-depth, but if you\u2019re bringing SIP service over a converged circuit, chances are, you\u2019re going to have guaranteed call quality with that, the same as you have with the PRI because it\u2019s a protected circuit coming from a provider. So it\u2019s not\u2026 So it is something that\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: People should maybe consider SIP versus PRI. And it probably is more of a phone system decision. If your phone system can handle SIP, as well as if it can handle PRI, or if it\u2019s going to be the same cost either way.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: You\u2019re absolutely correct, Mike. You know, and keep in mind, you know, if you put in a PRI, you have 23 voice channels if they\u2019re not being used, they\u2019re just sitting there. With SIP, it rides over a dynamic platform, and that way, in the event that the calls aren\u2019t there, well now, those circuits are available for use as data, voice calls. So it\u2019s just a wave of the future in all the things that IT can bring, you know, business today.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Fantastic. So anything else on disaster recovery with converged services that we should know, or is that pretty much a wrap?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: That\u2019s pretty much it. We covered discovery meetings, getting from the customers, keeping in mind, you know, business continuity, what it means to your business if you lose connectivity, and then things to put in place to go ahead and cover those outages when they do occur and to minimize the impact to their customers.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Fantastic. Great. Well, cool. Well, on a lighter note, you know, one thing I would like to do is ask a\u2026 You know, if you can share a story with us to kind of entertain us a little bit on what\u2019s the most interesting, or fun, or, you know, crazy thing you\u2019ve ever witnessed in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Okay. Plenty of crazy. This is telecom, you know, there\u2019s telecom gremlins and there\u2019s so many great stories to tell out there. But one that happened a few months ago was we were pulled in by a customer on emergency need for service. We did our best working with (inaudible) [0:34:27] to go ahead and bring in the service, and it was just amazing how we did on a typical 90 plus day interval.<\/p>\n<p>The interesting thing about it though was that the property manager that this customer was moving into gave him the wrong MPLE. So when everybody showed up to install and finalize everything, everything was in the wrong room. So the takeaway there is, you know, make sure that the information\u2019s accurate, double check it, just to go ahead and ensure that you\u2019re going to get the benefits of an expedited move like that and make sure the customer\u2019s going to be happy.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah. That\u2019s so true. I mean, that\u2019s advice I always give customers on installations. It\u2019s just double check, triple check all the information because don\u2019t assume that the, you know\u2026 Anyone else is going to be doing that stuff, because everyone else is kind of doing their job and flying through, and sometimes, you get into situations where everyone\u2019s assuming someone else double checked that and, you know, and the thing is, it\u2019s like from a customer\u2019s standpoint, they\u2019re the ones who are in a position of knowledge for most of the information.<\/p>\n<p>So when those e-mails, you know, get shot out across your desk, you know, make sure you check all those e-mails and go through all the details, you know, really religiously because, you know, a lot of times, the project managers are moving fast. They have a lot of orders they\u2019re working and they\u2019re not going to ask you two or three times if you\u2019re sure that the <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Demarcation_point\" target=\"_blank\">MPOE<\/a><\/span> is the right one for your section of the building or something.<\/p>\n<p>You know, it\u2019s like some of that stuff is just assume that you\u2019re going to check, so don\u2019t assume anyone else is checking because they\u2019re assuming you\u2019re double checking.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Great advice, Mike.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: So alright, well, tell us a little bit about <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/company-profile\/windstream\" target=\"_blank\">Windstream<\/a><\/span>, you know. Like, Windstream\u2019s a provider that has definitely changed over the years, you know, in terms of\u2026 You know, when I think of Windstream, I think of the old PAETEC, but I know that there\u2019s been mergers and product changes and things like that, so tell us a little bit about Windstream and what you guys do really well these days, and what\u2019s going on new over there.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Very good. Windstream just is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. Started out as the old Alltel company in Little Rock, Arkansas, and then saw a play for becoming a tier 1 national provider. So through acquisitions of the year\u2026 Through the years, they purchased McLeod, they purchased parts of Covad. They went ahead and bought PAETEC, Mike had mentioned.<\/p>\n<p>And by cobbling these companies together, they brought in fiber from CLX that they had purchased in the East United States and the Southeast, put together a marvelous backbone network over 110,000 miles of fiber in the ground. What we offer is voice, video, and data capabilities, everything from MPLS circuits, internet circuits. We\u2019re putting in 10 Gig circuits into large universities and into municipalities. We offer e-rate capability for those that are offering services into the state and school space.<\/p>\n<p>On the horizon, everybody\u2019s now talking about <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/our-products\/access\/site-to-site\/sd-wan\/\" target=\"_blank\">SD-WAN<\/a><\/span>, and we have that capability in our labs right now that we\u2019re furthering down and testing, and narrowing down. You know, who\u2019s going to be those edge providers in our network to offer those future services?<\/p>\n<p>And a little bit about SD-WAN. It\u2019s going to be offering bandwidth on the fly, specifically targeting MPLS networks. So instead of the old days, when you had to wait for bandwidth turn-up, these things are going to occur a lot quicker. And apparently, there\u2019s a common use of scale that come with that, so we\u2019re looking to lower cost for MPLS users in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Windstream has invested about 850 million in the last few years into your network, providing upgrades, trying to better the network whenever we suffer through a network event to ensure that that doesn\u2019t happen again, and offering various services like wireless capabilities in the Eastern United States. Obviously, an internet player. Heavily into the SIP platforms, we have multiple awards from Frost &amp; Sullivan regarding our capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s a little overview for your audience, Mike.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Yeah, it seems like, you know, in the\u2026 you know, would you say that Windstream is focused, you know, primarily on mid-market companies, like, you know, a little bit larger businesses, or would you say that you guys do a pretty good job spanning all, you know, small business to mid-sized, to enterprise?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Excellent question. We offer, from the big players, we have a national account segment on in the enterprise, which is the mid-market. We also have a small business. So we actually, you know, run our buckets of products in with specific routes to ensure the best experience possible whenever we do work these orders.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Okay. That\u2019s good. Because I know some providers these days are kind of starting to make a shift towards mid-market and kind of niche down because they\u2019re still keeping that small business sector open, and still keeping a lot of products in that portfolio for even small business, huh?<\/p>\n<p>Jon: That is correct.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Great. Well, cool. Well, thanks for hanging out with us today, Jon. I think we all learned a little bit and got some good information. I think disaster recovery is huge, as you mentioned. You know, if you\u2019ve got one circuit out there and you don\u2019t have a backup plan, it\u2019s just a matter of time before you go down. So if you need that stuff up and running, take some advice from what we talked about today, and at least, you know, implement some type of an idea of what\u2019s going to happen when you do, because it\u2019s not \u201cif\u201d, it\u2019s \u201cwhen\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>But yeah, thanks for coming out and sharing that information with us today.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Absolutely, Mike. Working with you and AeroCom and your agents is an absolute pleasure. You\u2019re a very professional organization. And thank you for having me.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Thanks a lot. Have a great day, and maybe we\u2019ll get you on sometime in the future to talk about something else as well.<\/p>\n<p>Jon: Very good, sir. Would love to jump to that opportunity. Everybody have a good day.<\/p>\n<p>Mike: Wow. That was some great information, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll agree, on converged services. I hope everyone got at least a little bit from that conversation I had with Jon. And as always, if you\u2019d like to get in touch with Jon about anything, just e-mail the show at <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"mailto:podcast@aerocominc.com\" target=\"_blank\">podcast@aerocominc.com<\/a><\/span> and we\u2019ll be happy to arrange it. Or if you have any questions that came up from Jon\u2019s conversation, we\u2019d be happy to give you some answers.<\/p>\n<p>Okay. So as always, I just wanted to remind you about our free gift as well. Just text the word ISP deals to the number 44222, and we will e-mail you that free copy of all the latest and greatest promotions that are going on for business internet as we speak. I think there is more than 50 of them on there, so make sure you take advantage of that.<\/p>\n<p>And make sure you hit us up and read the transcripts on our website if you\u2019d like to revisit any of this stuff, <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a style=\"color: #ff6600;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/blog\/\" target=\"_blank\">aerocominc.com\/info\/blog<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, have a great day out there, and we will catch you next time.<\/p>\n<p>IT nation, thank you for joining us on Cloud Therapy with aerocominc.com. Visit us at aerocominc.com, that\u2019s A-E-R-O-C-O-M-I-N-C.com and head on over to the blog section for notes on everything we talked today, as well as our blogs, provider reviews, and of course, the best quotes for any technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Putting your company&#8217;s Internet service and phone service (and sometimes your MPLS service), on the same integrated (a.k.a &#8220;converged&#8221;), circuit can save a lot of money and allow you to get a faster Internet connection (by utilizing your unused voice<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/cloud-therapy-ep-020-dr-for-converged-internet-voice-services\/\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more &#8250;<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[371],"tags":[204,529,511,504,172,530,422,429,526,146,524,523,506,505,527,112,521,533,532,428,367,423,531,528,525,391,522],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aerocominc.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}