Kick-ass Network Coming to the Atlanta Tech Village

By Joshua Flail

Homer Bartlett, Ripple IT Consultant

Now that Ripple is not only the official IT service provider for the Atlanta Tech Village, but also one of the first companies to take up residency in the 100,000+ sq/ft building (currently undergoing a complete overhaul) we want to keep everyone up-to-date on the installation of the new superfast network that Ripplers will be managing.

For the last several weeks, our man Homer Bartlett has been going back-and-forth between our current office in West Midtown and the soon-to-be Ripple headquarters in Buckhead to oversee the buildout of a Meraki network that will lie atop over a full gigabit of fiber optic internet bandwidth! To put that in perspective… well, let’s just say it’s a whole lot of bandwidth. This newly built network will be able to serve with ease the 100s of companies and thousands of visitors who will occupy the ATV each year. Homer was kind enough to explain to me just what the specs of this new network mean and how our managing the infrastructure will help keep IT costs low for occupants of the Atlanta Tech Village. continue reading

Comments 0

ATV Promises New Recognition for Atlanta-based Tech Companies

By Joshua Flail

Big news! As Mike announced earlier, Ripple is now not only the official IT service provider of the ATV (or Atlanta Tech Village if you prefer the long way home), but we’re also moving in! So, what exactly is big deal about this new spot? Well, let us fill you in on why we’re so excited to be part of it.

The ATV aims to be a community center for technology and technology-related companies. Located in Buckhead on Piedmont Road, the building boasts over 103,000 sq/ft and will offer ZipCar rental right in its expansive 93,000 sq/ft parking lot.

With all these progressive, talented people under one roof, the ATV expects there will be a constant stream of events, meetups and collaborations between businesses. Imagine a hybrid building of traditional offices and coworking spaces with people from a multitude of companies sharing not only physical space but ideas, and you can start to see the potential benefits of working in the ATV. Not to mention how Atlanta itself will increasingly be seen as a hub for technology-based companies. continue reading

Comments 0

Travel Tips from the Ripple IT Support Team

By Joshua Flail

When traveling for business, on vacation, or visiting family for the holidays, it’s important to be cautious with your gear. That includes everything from your luggage to your laptop. We Ripplers have a few tips to help you avoid the traveling blues by keeping your technology safe and secure.

1. Save the updates for at home
Before hitting the road, make sure your operating system and apps are completely up-to-date. Don’t update at the hotel, even if prompted to do so by the hotel’s Wi-Fi. The reason? Well, this “update” could allow cybercriminals to install malware that monitors everything you do on your computer—including when you type in email addresses and passwords. Hackers might jack your email account and send unsavory spam to your listed contacts and others. And some malware can even turn on your webcam and record whatever is going on in the room. Really.

2. Turn it on
While this isn’t a guarantee that you won’t get a virus while on vacation, making sure your antivirus software is up-to-date and running will go a long way toward protecting your computer and private data. If you have an internal firewall, turn it on as well. And for Mac users, if you really want to go the extra mile, turn on Filevault. None of this will guarantee a virus-free vacation, but it’s a heck of a lot safer than doing nothing.

3. Back it up
Just in case something does happen to your computer while on vacation, you’ll want to backup the data on your computer to a hard drive or the cloud before you leave home. This way, you won’t lose everything should your computer get stolen or get infected with a virus.

Comments 0

Migrating to Google Apps

By Joshua Flail

ignition: an experiential marketing agency in Atlanta, Georgia.

A little over a year ago, our friends at ignition knew they wanted to improve their email and calendar system. At the time, they had a hybrid of hosted exchange and POP email, which made communication between their people a lot more complicated than it needed to be. After a lengthy discussion between our man Homer and ignition co-owner Mikey Hersom about all the available options, like in-house, hosted, and web-based systems, they decided to go with Google Apps on our recommendation. Using a web-based system like Google Apps allows ignitors to collaborate in realtime like never before. They use Google Docs (now G-Drive) for file sharing, Calendars to schedule events, Gmail to keep track of all emailed communications, and Hangouts for collaboration between two or more ignitors no matter where they choose to work.

But you don’t have to take our word for it. Hillery Brown, ignition’s Assistant Brand Manager, gave us a quick rundown of the problems with their previous system, and how Ripple made her job a lot less stressful.

Comments 0

WiFi for Business

By Homer Bartlett

Eight to ten years ago many businesses added WiFi networks to their offices using what was ubiquitous at the time. Namely, inexpensive access points like the Linksys WAP54G (don’t take that the wrong way, it’s a great WAP and we still have love for this venerable old workhorse). Many people had similar devices installed at home, and since they worked fine there, well why not the office too? And for most folks they did work fine at the office. If you had 30 people in the office but only 3 of them had laptops, an inexpensive consumer-grade wireless access point could keep up just fine.

Fast forward to 2012 and these days most small businesses (well the majority of small businesses we service anyway) run predominantly on laptops. Some are 100% laptops, with no desktop computers in sight. Heck some of our clients don’t have assigned desks, they just have work spaces that employees float into and out of, and in places like that everyone is all wireless, all the time.

Comments 0