New Name; New Location; Same Type of Information

Beginning on November 26, 2007 the informational blog Technology Tips for Small Business will be moved to a new location.

It now can be found at www.smbtechnologytips.com under the new name Technology Tips for SMB’s.

There are not that many difference between the Small and Mid-sized business with their understand and needs for technology. While some Mid-Sized businesses may be able to have on-site dedicated Technical Managers, many of them can’t afford the expense.

Since this was the main reason for this informational site for Small Businesses, it was a natural to expand it to include the Mid-sized business.

I have also decided to move it to its own hosted site. This is purely for financial reasons.

Thank you to those who have read these posts in the past and I hope that you will be following us to www.smbtechnologytips.com.

VoIP and IP Security

A VoIP system could face the same type of problems as the data network. This includes VoIP versions of spam, phishing, and denial of service attacks. These attacks could take down the network and telephone system for hours. Calls could be intercepted divulging company secrets or client information.

The threats to a VoIP system are some of the same ones that affect any IP network. Others are unique to voice communications. Major threats include:
• A virus or worm can be introduced to the network and crash the VoIP servers or gateways

• A denial of service attack can overwhelm the network, making it unusable

• A hacker can access the call server to listen in to, record, or disrupt calls

• A hacker can get access to services that are supposed to be restricted

• Hackers can access the trunk gateway to the PSTN and make unauthorized toll calls

• A hacker who accesses the call server can register “rogue” IP phones, which can then use the company’s VoIP services

A related problem is VoIP spam or VoIP Phishing. A replicated voice messages could be created that could be used for purposes, such as obtaining personal information. People trust the telephone more than a do their computer and email and are more likely to offer important information on the phone.

Does this mean you shouldn’t consider VoIP or move to it? There are cases where money can be saved by using VoIP technology.  But when deploying VoIP it’s important to consider security concerns.  VoIP security flaws can cause a major problem within your business.  These could be with costly outages and financial lost.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All rights reserved

*****

Steven G. Atkinson is a Technology Consultant and Author of the book Technology Tips for Small Business.  For more information visit the website for the book at tt4sb.com

Some Nortel Acronyms

Recently I noticed that someone did a search on the meaning of some Nortel Acronyms.  Here are some of the common ones noting what they stand for.

NTP        (Nortel Technical Publications)
TN           (Terminal Number) or Port Number
DN           (Directory Number) or exchange
NARS/BARS (Network/Basic Automatic Routing System)
(XX)A       (feature  Allowed)
(XX)D       (feature  Denied)
IPE            (Intelligent Peripheral Equipment)
NCOS       (Network Class of Service)
(O)TM       ((Optivity) Telephony Manager)
MARP       (Multiple Appearance Redirection Prime)

Acronym: SIP

SIP – Session Initiation Protocol. This is an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard for initiating an interactive user session involving multimedia elements such as voice, video, gaming etc. SIP works in the Application layer of the Open Systems Interconnection communications model.Requests can be sent through any transport protocol, such as UDP, SCTP, or TCP.

© 2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

Term: Divestiture

Term: Divestiture
In 1984 as a result of the antitrust trial against AT&T as a telecommunication monopoly the US Justice Department ordered that AT& be split. This resulted in the Long Distance Carrier AT&T and seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (termed RBOCs). This is known as the Divestiture of AT&T. Today the Long Distance AT&T of 1984 no longer exists having merged with SBC (with came about via mergers of several of the RBOCs) in 2006. SBC took the name AT&T.

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

What is VoIP?

The Internet has established a lot of new things. Companies no longer have to send printed catalogs to customers. These can be put on-line at websites. A big advantage for this is that the product list and pricing is never be out of date. Products can be added or removed as needed and price changes as well.

Along with this technology another new product has come onto the market. That is Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP.

But what is VoIP?

The telephony standard uses what is termed circuit switched technology. That is when a telephone call is made there is a direct and dedicated path from one caller to another. The path is reserved for the entire conversation.

VoIP treats the voice as data, by turning the words into tiny digital packets of information. Those packets are transmitted over the data network. When received at the other end, the data is returned to audio that can be heard.

Voice IP is not the same as Data IP. In Data communications, such as sending an email, the data may go to a server to be compiled before delivering to the user. The data packets are received and assembled. If one happens to be missing or is corrupted there is a request to resend.

Voice is a real time event. IP Packets are assembled as they are received. The packets received out of sequence are not used. Because of this, there could be missing or delayed information. In technical terms, latency and jitter. To the ear it may be unusable speech.

My next few post will deal with VoIP, including a list of things to look at when considering VoIP for your small office.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

What is the future of Toll-Free numbers?

Many users, especially those using residential services now have long-distance included in their standard package. Cellphone have long had plans that have allowed anywhere calling. Do business really need those special toll free numbers for their consumers to call? It’s getting less likely.

Many marketing experts have advised that a business should get a toll free number to increase business. But in this day where everything is based on ROI (Return On Investment), does it actually pay to have that toll-free number?

It might, but I think that you need to evaluate the cost over the return and not just take a marketing opinion. Maybe it’s time for business to just stop using it as a marketing tool.

One of the things that I have never been able to understand is why a non-profit asking for donations, use toll-free numbers. If they have some one who is willing to donate, wouldn’t it be common sense to think that the donor would be willing to pay the few extra cents to place the call in the first place. A call to a non-profit’s local number is the same as making a donation. It’s one less expense for them. Is this the classic robbing Peter to pay Paul?

Will toll-free numbers be around forever?

Will toll-free numbers only be used for special circumstances?

These are questions that we will only know the answers to as time passes. The one thing for certain, they will continue to be used for a while. How Long? That’s another question.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

Old technology doesn’t make it bad technology

Many of us want to have the newest of everything out there. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as the technology budget is in place to handle it. Just because something is a few years old doesn’t make it worthless.

There are many people who may have purchase a PDA, handheld computer or even a cellphone a few years ago and you couldn’t get them to give it up for anything.

As long as it’s getting the job done, and not causing you more problems than it’s worth, having older technology may be best. While it’s a good idea to have a replacement plan, it doesn’t mean a gadget in perfect working order needs to be discarded.

© 2006-2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

Acronym: RBOC

ROBC – Regional Bell Operating Company. With the divesture of ATT in 1984, seven regional companies, also called “Baby Bells” were formed to supply local telephone service with ATT as the Long-Distance Carrier. These seven companies were; Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis (also known as Pacific Bell), Southwestern Bell and US West. Not only were these companies the RBOC, but they would also be considered the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier). The term Regional Holding Company (RHC) is also sometimes used.

Over the course of the past 23 years there have been mergers and other acquisition as well as a change in the telecommunications law in 1996 that allowed the RBOCs to request and be granted the rights to supply Long-Distance services where once there were 8 companies (ATT and the 7 ROBCs) now are three.

Verizon was formed after the Merger of Bell Atlantic and NYNEX as well as the acquistion of GTE an independent carrier. Since then Verizon has also merged with MCI (A Long-Distance company).

Qwest a Denver based Fiber Long Distance company acquired US WEST.

The New ATT was formed after SBC acquired ATT and took the name AT&T in 2005. SouthWestern Bell took the name SBC when it acquired Pacific Telesis in 1997. SBC then acquired AmeriTech in 1999. Then in 2006 the new AT&T merged with BellSouth.

© 2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.

Term: Loop Back

LOOP BACK – Is a method of performing transmission tests on a circuit, not requiring the assistance of personnel at the distant end. This happens when a signal in sent from a central communications device (usually at the carrier’s central office) and returned to it in a way to determine correct operation of the circuit or device.

© 2007 Steven G. Atkinson – All Rights Reserved

******
Steven G. Atkinson is the author of the book – Technology Tips for Small Business. For more information on the book visit the site for for book – Technology Tips for Small Business.