Edition 6 | November 2009
Welcome to the sixth edition of Quip Notes, the newsletter presented to you by Compuquip.
To download a printable version of the newsletter, click here: Quip Notes November
CEO’s Corner:
October 1st marked the beginning of our 30th year in business and as Lourdes and I traveled to New York City with the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, I had time to reflect on our history, accomplishments and how we came to be who we are today. There have been many specific events, hurricanes, legal changes and economic ups and downs, but what stuck most in my mind were the people who made a difference throughout our 29 years in business. It’s what we call the “Compuquip family”.
The Compuquip Family began in 1980 with large dreams and little capital, and has now grown to almost 80 employees, each of whom is essential to our growth and success. There are however several individuals without whom we could not have achieved what we once dreamed of becoming.
First there was Larry Mero who helped establish us as a strategic partner for NCR, way before this type of relationship was the standard. Larry was one of the most successful sales managers in his time and helped jump start Compuquip and establish a base of clients. Then there is Virginia Rodriguez, who recently celebrated her 26th year with us. Virginia was my right hand person during those early years and continues to work in the Accounting department as a very productive member of our team. And of course, my partner for 13 years, Tom Ewing. Tom “retired” from IBM after a very successful career in services management and once on board, helped us grow and mature from a legacy shop to a truly regional solutions provider bringing that “large company perspective” with a true entrepreneurial flavor.
Today Compuquip is diversified and has four distinct operating units working together to serve the IT needs of clients in Florida and the Caribbean. My sons, Eric and Brian, have become a greater force in managing our business and together now run our Managed IT Services practice and infrastructure division. Our outlook is more bullish than ever and we look forward to continued growth and development.
I am very grateful to our friends, clients and business partners, too many to mention, for the opportunity to work with you in the past and into the future. As always, our doors are always open and the entire Compuquip family welcomes you to let us know how we can help.
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New @ Compuquip: Blue Wave Communications Website Re-launch
Blue Wave Communications is pleased to announce the launch of their new website! The site follows the lead of the newly redesigned Compuquip website that was introduced in June. There are many similar features between the two sites such as web inquiry forms with the ability to submit information requests online, a blog for up-to-date industry knowledge, testimonials, and tons of company information.
You will also notice some features that are unique to the Blue Wave site, including:
- Success photos – Authentic project photos to demonstrate the high quality of craftsmanship that Blue Wave installs at every project.
- Customer Portfolio – A client list to show the caliber of organizations that Blue Wave has worked with and the scale of Blue Wave projects.
- Partners Page – Partner details to showcase the highly reputable and warrantable companies that Blue Wave partners with to complete its projects.
Blue Wave looks forward to utilizing the new website as an outlet to share information with its clients and prospects, and is excited about the increased exposure the site will provide for the Blue Wave brand and philosophy.
Please check out the website at www.bluewavemiami.com and let us know what you think!
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Another IT Problem Solved: Blue Wave Partners with the Hilton Miami Downtown
Challenge:
The Hilton Miami Downtown was in dire need of reliable and high speed internet access for their hotel guests. As the number one complaint received by the hotel, adequate internet services became a top priority. Installation was complicated by the layout of a 40-year old hotel with hard, inaccessible ceilings and walls, and a need for an aesthetically pleasing design and an installation that was as unobtrusive as possible to guests, staff and hotel operations.
Solution:
Blue Wave positioned a team at the hotel and worked closely with the hotel’s facilities manager to reduce the overall impact to the hotel’s operations, guests and employees. Through detailed investigation, they identified the most suitable locations for the Telecom Rooms and proper pathways between the floors for the fiber backbone cables. By utilizing the most effective cable pathways, Blue Wave was able to prevent the use of any surface raceway (plastic ducts used on walls and ceilings to conceal cables when there are no other means of routing).
Working under a tight deadline and around the hotel’s varying occupancy levels, Blue Wave installed over 120 cables on a total of 20 floors. The Hilton now has a fully-functional wiring infrastructure and WiFi system for guest internet access that has significantly reduced the number of internet complaints and has allowed the Hilton to more aggressively market this feature to attract more business and increase occupancy.
“We were very pleased with Blue Wave’s cable work at this Hotel in preparation for our transition to Hilton’s “StayConnected” guest internet support,” said David Hendrix, General Manager of the Hilton Miami Downtown. “[The] work was done professionally, on time and within budget.”
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Vitualization Forum 2009: Deconstructing the Cloud
By: Jorge Azcuy
Recently, I attended VMware’s Virtualization Forum 2009 on October 8th in Orlando. If I had to sum up the theme in one word, it would be “cloud”. Cloud Computing is the latest buzz word/hot topic to hit the industry, following in the illustrious footsteps of Software as a Service (SaaS), Consolidation, ITIL, and Green IT. The term cloud computing purposefully covers many topics, but one keynote speaker representing Enterprise Strategy Group summed it up very nicely: Cloud computing is a means of consuming and distributing computing resources. Still confused? Let’s take a closer look.
Most companies utilize Microsoft Exchange Server as their Email Messaging solution. Ten years ago, if your company needed an Exchange Server deployment, the organization would have purchased a new server according to certain specifications, waited a week for its arrival, loaded the operating system and patches, and then finally installed the Exchange Server component to allow users to send and receive corporate emails via the Microsoft Outlook client. If the company’s email use or employee count grew unexpectedly and the server ran out of disk space, required a RAM upgrade, or if the motherboard went bad, new hardware was procured in order to remediate the issue. The preceding scenario (which could also apply to your Line-of-Business application or your File Server) inevitably resulted in poor service to users and customers and cost days of lost productivity.
If the same situation occurred 3 years ago and your Exchange Server had been installed on VMware’s VI3 Platform, the Server could be shutdown, the virtual RAM added or the virtual disk space expanded, and then be brought back online in only a matter of minutes. If the Physical Hosts’ motherboard went bad, the Exchange Virtual Machine would have rebooted on another Host in the VI3 Cluster and little productivity was lost. In the worst case scenario (an infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death or BSoD), a new Virtual Machine would have been deployed and Exchange data restored from backup in under 2 hours.
Illustration of how an internal and private cloud integrates with an external and public cloud.
If this same scenario happens today on VMware’s vSphere platform (whether you manage this in your network or pay as you go from a “Cloud” Provider), the RAM can be added or the disk expanded on the fly with zero down time. If the motherboard of a Host goes bad, the Virtual Machine is not disrupted at all through vSphere’s Fault Tolerance feature. If you receive a BSoD, well, you’re still in bad shape, but the advancements in backup technology, specifically Virtual Machine-aware backups, result in much lower time to restore.
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Employee Spotlight
Max Bravo, Field Operations Manager, Blue Wave Communications
Max Bravo joined Compuquip on February 1, 2001. Nearly 9 years later, he has grown with and within Compuquip where he started as a Computer/Printer Technician, progressed to Cable Technician in 2002, and transitioned to his current role as Field Operations Manager for Blue Wave in 2005.
Max takes special pride in providing Blue Wave clients with the support and solutions they are looking for. He thrives in his hands-on role where he oversees and ensures the quality of work performed by all Blue Wave technicians, reads and interprets construction plans, pulls necessary permits, interacts with contractors, and verifies that all contracts be completed on time and within budget.
“Our customers appreciate the attention to detail and thorough solution planning that Blue Wave provides. They know that unlike most cabling contractors, Blue Wave aims to develop long-term partnerships and offers support for the life of their cables,” said Max. “I have enjoyed building relationships with our customers, growing along with Blue Wave, and working in an organization that treats you more like family than an employee.”
Max’s cabling expertise is backed by an Associates Degree in Electronic Engineering Technologies from the American Training Institute, BISCI cabling certification, and Ortronics, Corning, Leviton, and Panduit product certifications.
“Max is one of the hardest working, most dedicated and resourceful individuals that I know,” said Tim Orr, General Manager of Blue Wave. “His commitment to customer satisfaction and his ability to adapt to ever-tightening construction schedules is truly invaluable.”
Max, who was born in Argentina, was raised in Miami and enjoys boating, fishing, diving, and ATV riding. He is especially looking forward to this holiday season as he is expecting a son in December!
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Upcoming Events
November
“The Discourse to Outsource” presented by The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Technology Committee will be held on Wednesday the 18th at the InterContinental Hotel West Miami from 11am to 1pm. The event will focus on developing an outsourcing strategy that enables growth, efficiency and profitability in a tough economy. For more information, please visit www.miamichamber.com.
December
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Technology Committee will host two exciting events with additional details forthcoming.
—Florida’s BioTech Vision and Future on December 2nd.
—A Holiday Networker at US Century Bank on December 9th.
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