GeeForce LLC

One of the great frustrations for road warriors, students, and travelers of all types is the need to get online while on the road without WiFi.  Usually this involves buying a separate USB based HSDPA modem (ie cellular modem), or dongling your smart phone to your laptop. (That’s if your smart phone and cellular provider allow it).

That was until JoikuSpot.

JoikuSpot is available for your Nokia Symbian or Linux based smart phones that turns your device into a mini hotspot.  This application is a paradigm changer. There is even a free “light” version  that only allows you to only access http/https content with a forced landing page.  That’s fine for the occasion user but most users will want the full blown version.  Without wires or extra devices you’re able to tap into your phone’s connectivity (3G for me) and get online in record time.

Verizon has attempted to solve the same problem with their MiFi solution, but why do I need to purchase and carry around another device?  With my current service provider (AT&T) I was able to use my cell phone while being online at the same time. With the prices coming down on unlocked E63 and E71 devices and good reviews coming on on the N900, the combination of JoikuSpot and a Nokia phone will be a must have for the hard core road warriors in the know.  If Nokia was smart they would bundle the application with their phones.

JoikuSpot isn’t just handy – it’s the holy grail for staying connected on the go.

One of the most exciting times for any company is  new construction. With so many systems network aware, ensuring that the your project’s IT needs are being properly looked at is more critical now than ever before.  Today a building or office’s network may carry traffic for voice, video, data, security, automation, power control, and HVAC (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning).   Unfortunately your architect(s) may not be aware of what that  integration involves and you will end up paying for that ignorance.

IT is very often an afterthought in the design process, squeezed in after a space has been laid out and all other systems have been added.  This leads to added costs, network compromises, change orders,  and future problems due to poor planning over a building’s life cycle.   Most of that can be avoided with careful upfront planning and coordination.  That means more than having your IT people talk to your architect, it means having people represent you that have construction and building systems knowledge.  Just as important is an inspection regimen during the construction process to ensure that the infrastructure is going in correctly.  A well planned design will still cost you time and money if it wasn’t installed correctly.

While a blog post is too short to cover every detail, below are some of the most common mistakes that we see from architects.

• The primary IT room are often placed in the furthest corner of a building when they should be placed as close to the center as possible
• IT rooms often are under powered and don’t have AC.  IT rooms need an abundance of power and HVAC.  For most larger structures a redundant AC system should be designed in.
• Architects often design runs between rooms that are too far for common Ethernet.  If network resources are going to be further than 85 meters then intermediate network closets (IDF) need to be added to the design.
• Roof top spaces and voids are usually ignored.    These spaces are ideal for wireless deployments and planning the space for future uses will provide an owner with maximum flexibility without a lot of expense.
• Rooftops have no provision for IT needs. Ensure your architect designs in penetration points with pathways back down to an IDF , MDF, or telco closet.
• Architects often don’t know what systems have network capability.  All systems should be reviewed for network awareness and provisions made for connectivity even if the network controls are not planned to be used. (Has your IT guy talked to your security vendor, your local service providers,  the engineers responsible for designing your building’s HVAC systems?)
• Architects and contractors often only include duct or pathways for what is on the drawing or required by a local service provider.  Always include 2 spare ducts from the curb to your building’s IT room or service entrance.  Always put in a spare duct with pull string between MDF & IDF locations.

These are just a few of the suggestions that will save your company time and money when it comes to new construction.  These common sense suggestions apply to almost every type of structure from an office building to a luxury hotel. Don’t forget that a lot of these suggestions apply to retrofits and building out a space as well.  Good project management and oversight during the design process right through to construction and building occupation will save you money up front and in the future.

The network before GeeForce

Client stories are often humorously written and designed for the technical and non technical reader.  These stories are used with the client’s permission (the names have been changed to protect the innocent).

Problem: The client, a publicly traded company, owned a building that contains their corporate offices.  The building also had several other tenants but a common “IT Room”.  Client asked for GeeForce to come and secure their corporate network from the other networks in the building.

What we did first: Before proposing a solution GeeForce gathered intelligence on the network and tried to identify what was there.  We talked to the different business in the building to make sure we understood their requirements and networks.  Geeforce  brought a packet sniffer to the client location and examined the networks traffic found there.  We  asked about equipment we found during our walk through such as a half rack of decommissioned equipment and other IT hardware whose purpose wasn’t immediately obvious.

What we found: The network had multiple DHCP servers, there were routing loops, multiple routers, multiple access points and firewalls. The IT closet looked like a caffeinated army of monkeys went wild with CAT5 cable and wire cutters.

This was bad.

There was no security between some of the company networks.  An employee could walk in and print to their printers one day and the next day all their printers “disappeared”.  Some employees were able to connect to the file severs from another company but couldn’t connect to their own.  Performance was hit and miss.  Sometimes the internet was lightening fast and other times it was so slow that some people went home to get work done.

What we did: The first thing action item for GeeForce after we developed a plan was to have a meeting with the client and the building tenets to review the proposed solution.  After drawing out the new network, we explained what it would do and asked if  the plan would be a problem with the proposed solution.  GeeForce is a big proponent of getting all the affected parties in the same room! After getting everyone’s agreement on the next step, we scheduled an after hours week night to make the changes.

GeeForce ended up utilizing the equipment that client already had in their inventory but merely re-purposed much of it.  We also removed DSL routers, T1 routers, and access points that were no longer being used.  Since nothing was labeled employees were scared to turn off a piece of equipment for fear of shutting down a tenet’s network access!

Network after GeeForce Migration

The goal was to segment the network so that each company was behind a router/firewall and each company could control what traffic they allowed into their respective networks. The client had a high powered firewall that could do 100mb/s deep packet inspection from a recent acquisition sitting in their IT room shut down.

The firewall was an un-utilized piece of equipment that became the center of the new network.  After taking the firewall back to the office and bench testing it to make sure it worked, we registered it with the manufacturer for our client, and  programmed it for it’s new role.

After the migration the client’s network was locked down and so were the other building tenets that had their own networks.  We even went to the switch and deactivated every port on the client’s network that wasn’t in use.  This prevented people from plugging into their network switch while searching for “an internet port”.  All of the building tenets now had faster Internet Access and a static IP was assigned to each network to allow remote VPN access to the various corporate networks.  The client received a network map and had their IT room re-worked with labels and some judicious wire management.

Open Goo was the name of an incredibly good online collaboration software suite. The project was  sponsored by Feng Office.  Now the opengoo project has been re-branded Feng Office but it’s still the same incredibly easy to setup and use application.

Feng has all the applications you’d expect in an online collaboration suite – email, notes, contacts, files, calendar, tasks, time tracker and more.  What makes Feng different is the way it goes about collaboration.  It’s like a groupware crossed with project management plugged into a web 2.0 world.  The product handles multiple work spaces with ease (great for consultants) and it also handles multiple companies all from the same interface.  We use the application here at GeeForce were it is affectionately known as “The Goo”.